Glare
by Silent' M.Z
Summary: A freak natural event changes the lives of three people and sending them on a quest to find answers as well as their missing friend.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter one~ GRIEF**

"You really need to stop acting that way! All of you! I think it's enough of that already, it's been what? 7 months? I'm getting really frustrated here and you're NOT helping! Whether together or separate I end up empty handed with nothing~ NO progress whatsoever! I really think you should stop coming here if you're not going to help me help you!"

Those were my therapist's words~ well, our therapist!

Yes, it's been 7 months since it all happened and yes we should at least start moving on, but we simply couldn't.

I could hear his words, understand them, but it felt like he was talking to someone else. I felt disconnected or may be separated from the whole process. I knew he was talking to me -to us- but it just didn't feel that way.

He was right! I knew that deep down. So did Chester and Michael. But none of us recovered from what we've been through may be because it was too much or because we're just weak. Either way we were not the same~ not anymore!

After that wonderful "pep talk" speech that our therapist gave, there was nothing else to do but leave. And so we did. There was this awkward silence in the elevator. But it was not that awkward, after 7 months of this; you start getting used to it. Losing her, affected us all, every inch of us, every aspect of our life, simply everything. May be because she was the heart of the gang~ our gang, or may be because she was a difficult person to forget, we're not able to move on.

"It was nobody's fault" that was what I kept telling myself all the way to the ground floor where the door of the elevator finally opened ending that phase of " awkward" silence.. The fact that we never really found her~ her body or had a proper funeral made it even harder for us to admit that she's gone... gone forever.

Our car was right in front of the building. Dirty and dusty, Chester never even tried to clean it in 7 months; although it seemed like his favorite thing ever, but that was long ago~ 7 months ago to be exact. Mike didn't call for the driver seat like he used to. But I think that habit faded like a lot of others. I guess habits do tend to fade after 7 months absence. I headed for the back seat even though I had the keys, I just couldn't drive, with all the tears in my eyes, I could even see my way to the car. I gave the keys to Chester who passed them to Mike. None of us could look to the other in the eye. We just looked at different directions any direction but the one that leads eventually to a miserable pair of eyes.

Mike drove off. And the only sound I could hear was the noise of the engine. Each of us just stared out the window. I couldn't help myself but let my tears drop. I was thankful that neither Chester nor Mike could see me like this. I've played tough for so long and now wasn't the time to see through that mask I wore for so long. After a while of just staring without actually seeing what s outside, I eventually started paying attention and noticed where we were. And honestly I had no idea. I asked Mike but he didn't answer me. I asked again and again but still no answer. I tried to see his face in the rear view mirror and I did see it

I knew why he wasn't answering. He also didn't want me to see through his mask. He was crying. Not many times have I seen Mike like this. I guess he knew that if he spoke his voice wouldn't come out or may be it would come out but it would give him away anyways. I tried to see how Chester was doing, but he wasn't doing any better than me and Mike. He was better at hiding his tears though. His head fell between his arms placed on his thighs. It was a position that only Chester could pull off, since he's the skinniest of us.

"Answering your question; I've no idea where we are right now!" Mike said that after a while, breaking the silence.

"Oh!" And that was all I could come up with at the time.

"Get us home then!"  
Chester was the one who said that after he finally raised his head.

We shared the same car, the same place, the same everything. It's hard to believe that 4 people could be that close, but it's true. Now only 3 of us left standing. May be standing is not the right word for what we were~ what we are. May be "broken" is a better word for it.

Ever since she left, strange things started happening to us. Unfortunate events as I may call them. But it couldn't have been possibly as unfortunate as the main event, so none of us really wondered or even thought of it.

We reached home, finally. It took us long enough, Mike apparently wondered way too far from where we were actually going~ home.

The car stopped and we all got out. With the same awkward silence and stumbling steps we reached the third floor where our apartments are. Mike and Chester were roommates and so were Aiko and I.

It was not her name really. Mike was the one who gave her that name and it kind of became her name after that. It's Japanese for "beloved one." It was quite expected from him to give her a Japanese name, since he's half Japanese. Besides, for some reason she hated her name. It sounded perfect for all of us except her. No matter how many times we say that we loved her name, she wouldn't believe us, may be we only loved it because it was hers. All the arguments we had about this seems so silly now. It doesn't matter if it's Aitana or Aiko, what really matters now is that they belonged to the same great person. Although it's understandable why she loved the name Aiko so much, after all it was the love of her life who gave it to her.

It's hard to say which of them loved the other the most. Both Mike and Aiko were truly in love with each other. It was like a fairytale, the kind that you can only see in movies. But now seeing Mike like this, I know now that I've underestimated how much he loved her. It feels like he's not complete, not anymore. It's like he lost a part of him, a part of his soul. But after all, we all did. We all lost something back then, something essential~ something that we can't do without.

I entered my apartment and headed to her room and not mine. I've been basically living there for about 7 months!

May be number 7 is not as lucky as some people might think it is.

I lied on her bed staring at the ceiling. It was beautiful and full of all this art work that she did with Mike. He was a painter~ a professional and a very talented one. He was helping her, teaching her to be like him. There were a lot of colors, a lot of drawings, and there were things hanging from it. I wasn't much of an artist really and I didn't know what they were doing half the time, but eventually whatever it is that they were doing turns out great and it didn't need an art expert to appreciate it.

I started thinking going back with my memory to the good old days, the time when everything seemed easy and everyone was happy. Certain memories came to mind


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter two~ MEMORIES

*Flash back*

"Move it people! COME ON!" Chester yelling at us.

"Chill Chester, we are done" I replied.

"I'm DRIVING" Mike called for the driver's seat as usual.

"NO, you're NOT driving! It's not even legal that I'm letting you guys ride with me let alone letting a civilian drive my patrol car!" Chester was practically begging us not to cause him anymore trouble at this point.

For the first time ever, Mike actually listened!

We were going to the mall. Aiko and Mike are the ones who picked the place. Chester and I on the other hand didn't really like that shopping idea; instead we went to the police station to hand over the patrol car then we went to pick up our "civilian" car from the mechanic's.  
While Chester and I were walking to the mechanic's, he started telling me about this case he's been working on. He wasn't sure if it's mafia related or just another murder or may be a theft that gone bad. All the police had was three dead bodies all shot in the back and the shop where they were found is a mess. He was telling me that the police didn't have a clue but I could sense that he was up to something, and of course he dragged me with him.

We went to follow a lead on that case and it paid off. We actually found our murderer. It was that easy!  
We eavesdropped on a conversation that the man Chester suspected was having with another man on a cafeteria. Of course it wasn't enough evidence and Chester didn't have that permission cops usually have to do these stake outs so all we gained was knowing that Chester's hunch was right just as usual.

After that we took the car and headed back to the mall where Mike and Aiko were waiting for us.

"So, what now?" I asked him, trying to get a hint of what's going on in his mind.

"Nothing" He said with a low frustrated tone.

"NOTHING!"I yelled unintentionally.

"What do you want me to do?"

"Nothing" I replied in a disappointed tone

He was right. There was nothing we could do unless we had evidence which we don't.

"But you're going to work on it at least, right?"

"We'll see" He said it but I felt like he didn't mean it, or may be he had another answer in mind that he didn't feel like sharing with me.

I didn't ask again. I didn't want to bother him more. We reached the mall where Mike and Aiko waited for us.

"Hey guys!" Mike said.

"Where have you been?" Aiko completing his sentences like she always does.

"We got the car back" I answered, while Chester was too busy brooding.

"What's wrong with you man?" Mike asked, of course he noticed Chester's facial expression; it was quite obvious to all of us.

"It's nothing! Never mind. So, what did you get?" Chester was giving me a meaningful look, it's like he was telling me not to say a word about anything, or that's how I understood it.

"Loads of things! We'll show you later." Aiko replied with an excited expression on her face.

We were on our way back to the car when I noticed this man. It was the other guy on the cafeteria. He was too far away and I couldn't tell if he was looking at us. I tried to warn Chester but then I decided not to say anything. Aiko was kind of panicky and over protective to all of us, especially Mike. And the guy disappeared when I looked his way again so I thought it was just my mind playing tricks on me and moved on.

Mike drove off, after he called for the driver seat in our "civilian" car. Aiko sat by his side and Chester and I were in the back seat.

"You don't want me to tell them anything about this right?" I whispered.

"Yeah, please." Chester replied quickly with a low tone of voice.

"What are you two whispering about?" Aiko asked in a skeptical manner.

"Nothing" We both replied at the same time quickly.

"I'm not buying this" Mike commented.

"Neither am I" Aiko replied.

"Chill guys, it's nothing Chester is just thinking of buying new shoes." I justified.

"Yeah Yeah that's it." Chester said that looking at me with a smile on his face.

"Still not buying it" Mike said.

"Me neither." Aiko said.

"Well, you'll just have to accept that not everything has to be a big deal!" I replied.

"Okay" Mike and Aiko said at the same time, they seemed like they still don't believe us but they dropped it.

All that time, I've been noticing a car following us all the way since we left the mall. I couldn't see who was driving but I decided to tell Chester.

"That car has been following us since we left the mall." I told him.

"Really? Where?" He asked.

"Right there, see it?" I replied pointing at it.

"Oh yeah, I see it" He answered.

"I've also seen the other guy from the cafeteria at the mall before we picked up Mike and Aiko" I've decided to tell him that too.

"You did? Why didn't you tell me?" He seemed a little surprised.

"I wasn't so sure and I didn't want to make a scene. I mean since you have no intention of telling Mike or Aiko" I replied.

"Oh my god! It's him. That guy the guy from the cafeteria, he's the one driving that car" He said whispering.

"He is! What are we going to do now? Does he have anyone else with him?" I asked.

"No, I don't think so. Do you think he heard us back there in the cafeteria?" He asked.

"How the hell should I know? What are we going to do now? Answer me!" I tried to keep my voice down but I guess I was just freaking out.

"Damn it! Chill! Don't make me regret telling you, okay?" He was angry but still whispering. Aiko and Mike were too busy discussing what they bought so they weren't paying a lot of attention to us.

"Okay, okay" I calmed myself down.

"That's my girl" He said smiling.

That was the first time ever that he called me "his girl." I wasn't stupid; I knew he didn't mean it. Still, it made my heart jump up and down. I've had the biggest crush on him forever. Aiko helped me to drop it since we were just friends. Honestly I never wanted to ruin that. He's such a great friend and I didn't want to lose him. Besides, he wasn't that into me and I never had enough courage to even hint at it. All this never changed the fact that my heart stopped every time I saw him, or how I get all excited when he says something nice to me. Thanks to Aiko I never considered telling him about my crush after the conversation we had before. She totally convinced me with no effort on her part whatsoever. She knew me too well, and I guess that's what made me like an open book to her. So I loved him in silence and that worked out for the best I think.

A huge smashing sound woke me up of all these memories. It was next door. I wasn't surprised to hear that at all.

It was something to add to my list of the unfortunate events. It's probably Chester; I though to myself. He's been having his fair share of this lately. None of us had any idea of what was going on with him. Everywhere he walks, he seems to push or drop something. Sometimes he swears he didn't even touch whatever it is that fell down, but who would believe him! Objects won't fly on their own to land on the ground, or will they? 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter three~ SUPERNATURAL

I rushed next door to see what was going on. And as I expected it was Chester. Apparently he was trying to make something to eat and the result was three broken dishes and a huge amount of spilt water all over the floor. He swore to us -Mike and I- that he didn't even touch them.

"I was standing far from the table and I was going to pick those dishes up but they flew right at me. They flew my way, hit me, and fell to the floor. I swear guys! You have to believe me!" Chester explained.

"So you didn't touch them?" I asked, skeptical.

"And they fell to the floor on their own?" Mike said backing me up.

"YES!" Chester yelled, angry.

"What about this water?" Mike asked.

"Well, that bottle also fell" Chester trying to sound credible.

I knew that the story was hard to believe, but I never doubted for even one second that Chester could be lying to us. Chester was never a liar and he'll never be. But I had a hard time believing his story. I mean he's not lying but he may be imagining things

He was shaking a little, so I asked him to sit down and I went to the kitchen to get him some water. When I was in kitchen Chester turned to me and said:

"Could you get me some coffee instead?"

It seemed like an honest request, no harm in it. But I was wrong.

The coffee jar flew towards Chester as fast as a comet. Chester spontaneously raised his hands to cover his face from the coming "comet," and only at this second -the second Chester raised his hands- the jar stopped. It stopped in the air for a few seconds, just a few inches away from Chester's hands. While Mike and I stared in wonder, Chester noticed a little later, he started to put his hands down to take a better look at the "flying jar," but once he put his hands down, the jar also fell down and turned to pieces.

After a few seconds of silence and wonder, Chester broke the silence;

"And now, do you believe me?" Chester gloated.  
"What the hell was that?" Mike finally spoke, and then there was silence once again.

There was no explanation for it. We tried to find answers for our million questions but eventually we found nothing. The strange things that have been happening with him all this time are finally proved to be more than just bad luck. It's not bad luck and it's not him being clumsy but what the hell is it? That is the real dilemma.

I was still in the kitchen when Mike came my way to get himself some water, and I felt this unprecedented feeling of deep sorrow. It was not my first time to feel something all of the sudden, but it was my first time to feel that much sorrow and sadness almost in a depressing kind of way. I decided to leave and keep my feelings to myself.

Chester was not the only one with bad luck incidents or weird accidents. That was going on with the three of us, but each of us had his own personal kind of bad luck. As for Mike, he seemed to be always followed by bad weather. It has been raining a lot lately in our town even though it's summer time. Not once has any weather channel reported this sudden rain. When he was out of town for a couple of days, it rained in the other town that he went to and rain disappeared of our town. Wind also seemed to be against him sometimes and backing him up at other times.

As for me, my bad luck incidents weren't anything that could be seen. I've been having nightmares every night since the accident. Not only nightmares, but sometimes I feel like some sort of a radio channel is broadcasting exclusively to my head. I hear voices, but they're not asking me to do anything like psychopaths do, but they're talking to each other or to themselves like a broadcast of a radio channel, besides, my sudden feelings of different emotions sometimes all in one minute.

At first, none of us paid much attention to it, assuming it's just bad luck or something we're experiencing because of our grief. Later, these freaky incidents happened more often, became stranger and more obvious.

It's all strange, weird and confusing, but there is nothing we could do. That's what I kept telling myself. I couldn't help it but think of all this and reasons for it. And one thought led to another and I ended up again 7 months ago.

Everything that happened that day was extremely vivid in my head like a movie. I remember that car following us, and I remember it hitting us, blocking the way and forcing us to stop

"Get out of the car! All of you!" yelled the guy from the other car after he got out and pointed a rifle our way.

We all got out. While Chester and I were aware of what was going on, Mike and Aiko had no clue. I guess they thought it was some sort of car hijacking. The guy was still threatening us with a rifle, while Chester apparently decided to do the talking part.

"Hey man, calm down! We have no proof, no evidence, NOTHING! We can't hurt you. Just leave us be"

"NO! It's much easier to get rid of all of you people instead of just waiting for you to make a move and screw us all!" The guy replied, seeming very comfortable while talking about killing us all!

"I " Chester tried to say something when the guy interrupted him.

"You don't think I'm stupid, do you? I read your file, I know how good you are and I know that you won't leave us be, so why should I leave you then?"

Suddenly there was this noise, it was weird; something I never heard before. It may have been close to the sound of aero plans, but it wasn't that. It seemed more like the sound of a cartoon bomb falling on Coyote. The other guy got nervous, he didn't even bother to look up; instead, he took Aiko hostage, threatening to shoot her if any of us made a move or even sneeze. We looked up to see what was that loud annoying sound, but the sky was getting darker although it was midday. Something was coming our way; something on fire. We panicked, but there was nothing we could do when Akio is in his hands.

We were all helpless, but not Chester. May be because he's the cop among us or may be because he's just fast, he kicked the rifle out of the guy's hand in a blink. He was taken by surprise and that gave us enough time to grab both Aiko and the rifle and run away. It seemed easy to do but it wasn't. We only started to run, and there was a huge explosion sound. I was the furthest one behind. That thing, whatever it was landed right on that guy, and exploded. I'm not sure of the order of things. I can't fully remember if that thing hit the ground first and then we ran or if it was the other way around. I'm not sure if it exploded first or hit the ground first. This part is kind of hazy to me. But what I can remember is a glare, very bright, I'm not sure if it was before or after the explosion sound, but I'm sure it was very bright. I remember darkness, explosion, glare, and flying I think

I woke up after that explosion; I didn't know where I was or what time it was. It was some sort of a forest may be, or just a bunch of trees. I looked around but none of the guys was there. I walked a bit and I found a small hut and luckily there was a family living there. They've been great help to me and they called the police who got me back to my home town.

Yes, I woke up in another town, with huge pains all over my body like I've been thrown off a plan. I've thought long and hard about this but I had no explanation whatsoever that justifies me being a sleep in a forest in a town about 200 miles away from mine.

When I got there, a few days later, I was the last to arrive. Both Chester and Mike were already home. There was no sign for Aiko. I asked them what happened, but none of them seemed to have a clue. Both of them woke up in strange places.

Chester woke up on a ship in the middle of the pacific. The crew of the ship told him that he fell off the sky. They thought it was a sky diving attempt that gone bad. They showed him the huge whole in the deck that his landing caused.

Mike, had the best luck of us all, he landed in a 5 star hotel pool. People there gave him a bed and a room and waited for him to get better. Of course that hotel was in another town, about 175 miles away from ours.

When Mike arrived first, he didn't know what to do. He called the police and told them what happened and went back with them to the place where the explosion happened. He found both cars wrecked and a lot of blood. After investigation that blood turned to be of both Aiko and the other guy. The police made it clear that neither of them could have made it with this amount of blood loss.

Chester and I were still missing. The police couldn't find us. Chester showed up about 3 days after Mike and I arrived 2 days after Chester. The news we heard from Mike about Aiko couldn't have left us more broken. We tried to explain what happened but we couldn't. We tried to look for her but we never found any sign of her. The whole situation was messed up. And now it's 7 months after and we still the same. 


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter four~ DREAMS

After all this thinking, these memories and the flash backs I was tired and sleepy. I wanted to sleep but I was afraid to. These dreams were getting worse; they hurt me physically and emotionally. They are just so real to me. I tried to resist for a while but I fell asleep eventually.

The 6:00 am alarm woke me up. In other words it saved me. All night I've been dreaming, all night! Weird dreams, terrifying dreams, even tragic dreams. It's like I've been to the movies all night long and not by my choice. But there was one dream, a dream that I can remember clearly. I had trouble realizing that it is really a dream at first but then I figured out the truth. It really was a dream, so vivid in my imagination but still just a dream.

Aiko was there. I've been having that same dream for months now, but last night I remembered all of it, I even confused it with reality. Even though the dream was very close to some kind of sci-fi movie, it still felt real. I saw Aiko almost bursting into fires, but she wasn't burning. It's like she's causing it or manipulating it. It was the most beautiful thing I've ever seen. She was reddish. All of her skin had that color. Her hair was red glowing under the sun. And her hands had fire in them like fire balls. She wasn't burning her hands, she wasn't in pain and I didn't seem to be surprised at all. Then her hair turned in to fire and her eyes turned into the same color of her hair. She was beautiful, that red color really seemed to suit her very well. She was looking at me, and then she looked away at something else. I didn't seem to care so she threw a fire ball away to make me look. She was trying to show me something falling from the sky. I'm not sure of what it is called. An asteroid, a comet, a meteor, I didn't know. But that thing was falling really fast all burning and then there was an explosion sound and a white glare, and then nothing. When everything cleared out there wasn't any signs of anything. No marks on the ground, nothing is on fire, nothing. It was like nothing happened. She came close to me and held my hand leaving a burning mark on my hand and not hers and said:

"Go back there, figure this out, and get me out of here!"

That was the only thing she said during the entire dream. I didn't know what she meant. I woke up and went to catch my lectures, but all I could think of was that dream. I didn't listen to one word of what was being said. Instead I was thinking of that dream and having a thousand radio channels in my head. After a while I started paying attention to these voices. I found out that I could focus on one and phase out the rest. I was very impressed that I could do that. It was good to get rid of that headache that got stronger lately every time I'm around people. I focused on one voice. After a while I realized it was one of my colleges' voices. Her voice sounded like she's answering questions that weren't there kind of like she's being sarcastic about something. For some reason I had that crazy idea that I could actually read her thoughts. She was actually being sarcastic to what the professor was saying:

"So, anybody knows what 'hide and seek' means?" the professor asked.

"It's a game you idiot" She said that, I heard it in my head but I didn't actually see her say it out loud.

"It's a game guys! I used to play it a lot when I was younger" the professor answered when it became clear that nobody wanted to participate.

"Yeah yeah, we don't really need to hear the story of your life"

"How about you guys give me examples of games you used to play when you were younger?"

"How about you wrap this up and get out of here already?"

She was like that almost all the 2 hours of the class. She seemed to never shut up, at least in her head. I used to think that she's a very quiet person. She still is, but not in her head that's for sure.

I got out and I tried to focus on someone else. While I was searching, I found one of my colleges coming towards me. He was okay, I never really cared that much about him but I had no idea why I felt this happy when he starting approaching me. I wasn't all happy or excited because I saw him, I never really liked him that much, but I didn't know why. When he finally came to me, he was extremely excited because he finally managed to join the camp group that he was blabbing about all last week. They're going to camp in Hurghada which was a city on the red sea, very beautiful and he seemed to love it. After telling me he went on, apparently, to tell the rest of the people on campus, whether he knew them or not. He seemed that excited.

After he left, all this excitement I felt was gone too. I wasn't sad because he left, the feeling just faded as he did. Then another guy who never really liked me as far as I could tell came to ask me for my notes, and that was the first time he ever spoke to me. I was right, he didn't like me at all, being in his head wasn't exactly a picnic, but he trusted my notes apparently and that's why he asked me and not one of his best friends I guess. I gave him my note book and walked away. I went down to the playground which was very crowded and the thousand radio channels just started again. As I walked among them I started having different feelings that lasted only seconds or even less. I felt happy, sad, excited, depressed, worried, and scared, in love, upbeat, pessimistic, optimistic, and a lot of other feeling. By the time I crossed the playground I was exhausted, the headaches and the unstable mood just took all the energy left in me. I decided to call it a day and go home.

That idea really appealed to me. Home. It was the only place where I could really just be me. No radio channels, no headaches and certainly no strange feelings coming out all in one second. I wasn't sure what to think anymore. "Am I really a mind reader? I certainly don't think so. This is just too hard to believe. I can't be. There's no way". I kept saying that out loud, just trying to convince myself that none of what happened today really happened.

I couldn't get rid of that idea though. It was so stuck in my brains like glue. I think I liked it. I didn't know why really, but may be because it looked like one of my favorite movies come true. I've always been a supernatural movie freak. That didn't mean "crazy" up till now when I started listening to what I was saying. I was actually considering the possibility that I can read minds or hear thoughts or whatever. That second, I started getting a little worried about my mental health. I tried to change the subject in my head but I never managed to do that, not one time in my life was I able to block a thought out. I just have to obsess about almost everything.

I thought about what Aiko asked me to do in the dream. "Go back there" really! Really, Aiko? If that was her, she had to know I was never the person that gets a hint. What the hell was that supposed to mean? Is she haunting us now? Is that what it is? Now I'm crazy again thinking movies and sci-fi all over again.

Eventually I decided to "go back there" back to the place where it all happened. I reached the place hardly. There was no sign of anything. The two wrecked cars were just setting there but that was not what I expected to see. I expected a big hole, a mysterious view of something, anything. There wasn't. It was a meteor that landed here, wasn't it? We never really saw it for real, I just saw it my dream. How can I know now what really happened. Something must have destroyed those cars, may be it was something light that didn't affect the earth itself as much as what was on it.

I had no idea what I was doing there really. It didn't seem as easy as it is on the CSI shows. What was I expecting? Well, apparently it was something other than coming home empty handed. But that's what happened eventually. I did go home.

After I got there, I didn't really want to be by myself. I was afraid of thinking too much about this, about what I should or shouldn't have done. I was re-thinking the whole reading minds scenario and I didn't like it and I felt crazy. And then I started considering another possibilities and they were even crazier. I got to the point when I actually started thinking that Aiko is haunting us and trying to contact us somehow, give us some message. And then I started justifying this and thinking that this would be the reason for all the freak accidents that have been happening to us all along.

I went across to Mike and Chester's apartment. None of them was there but seconds after I was there Mike showed up and I started feeling this sudden rush of sadness mixed with depression and other feelings that I couldn't even begin to describe. He entered and didn't seem too surprised to see me there. I started telling him about what happened with me and that I went back to "ground zero" where it all happened. I did start but somewhere in the middle I couldn't finish. He was listening to me, at least he seemed to be, and answering me, but his mind, his thoughts, weren't really there. They were somewhere else, somewhere private, somewhere that I wasn't supposed to know about, hear about, or even see. Hearing his thoughts, I couldn't concentrate on my own speech. It was too much noise in my head, his thoughts and mine are just colliding.

He wasn't with me at all, he was with Aiko. A memory I had no idea it even existed. I felt bad for invading their privacy like this, but I had no choice, the thoughts were more like invading me than me invading them really. His thoughts seemed incoherent at first but then it all made sense.

I felt his love for her. I saw how he saw her. She was his angel, his guardian angel. That's how he saw her, that's how he thought of her. I saw a fight between them. I'm not fairly sure that "saw" is the correct verb, but I don't know how that even happens, I just know. Apparently he couldn't remember what that fight was about, but in the middle of his and her words he said:

"Marry me!"

The word made all the sense in the world to him, he felt that this is the woman he wants to spend the rest of his life with. Even with all the arguments it just lit up in his head like a cartoon idea bubble. He just knew. And she just stopped talking, stopped everything, and froze by his words. He didn't even try to explain himself, he just said:

"I love you"

And kissed her. I never really found out why they didn't tell us that he was going to marry her. I didn't know when that fight happened and how it ended because right after thinking this, he transferred to a much much darker thought.

His thoughts, his sadness was too much and before I knew it my eyes were watering. He didn't even notice that I stopped talking; he didn't notice that my tears are showing now. He was in his own world, dark world. I couldn't believe that he was actually considering ending his life to end the pain and be with Aiko again. It made sense to me, I was ok with the idea for a second may be because I was tapping into his thoughts and feelings and his view of things. But then it hit me. I couldn't stand the idea that he could do that. I couldn't stand that I'm going to lose another friend, again, and so soon. I was sobbing now and he finally noticed. I couldn't tell him that I know what he's thinking but I couldn't handle it either. I just blurted one sentence and left begging him with all the heart left in me, with my eyes, not to do it.

"I took you for a lot of things Mike, never for a quitter."

I said it and left. I couldn't look at him but he didn't say anything. I think he was surprised. I felt like if I stayed with him a second longer, I'd die. I'd die of sorrow and nothing else. I knew he was too crushed but his feelings with mine were too much for me. On one side I was mad at him for not even trying and the other part was me feeling extremely awful for being so helpless, so useless and not being able to help him at all.

I went back to my apartment and the first thought in my head was:

"It's settled then, I hear thoughts!"

It sounded so weird even for me the sci-fi movie freak. But how else could I explain what just happened now? I started rejecting the thought once again. "It might have been a fantasy or a dream" I thought. I finally decided to start doing something~ a research. I went to my computer and started searching~ searching everything and anything. Meteors, superpowers, why people get them, what happens when meteors fall, I just googled everything that came up in my head. The first gazillion sites were useless. But then I found this site where only theories and not facts were put there. After all the sites about facts failed me, I decided to see what the theories might say. After a few minutes of reading, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. 


	5. Chapter 5

Chapter five~ THE THEORY

"Can we mark the beginning of change? Can we change at all? Of all the creatures and beings in the universe human beings are the only ones capable of change physically, emotionally and on other aspects that we might even not know about. So yes… yes we can change and we will. It is the only way we would survive. The only way our planet would survive. With all this, all the destruction that we caused, it became clear that we can't save it on our own. We are incapable of saving ourselves. We are incapable of saving our own planet.

So… we need help. We are getting help. We just haven't figured out yet how to use it, but someone or something out there is trying to help us. We don't know if it's God, aliens, or just works of nature but we are receiving the help.

Since 1945, right after the end of World War II, strange objects have started falling off the sky. Surprisingly it didn't cause harm at all, to the earth itself, some of the objects on the face of the earth got wrecked though. These objects never landed on humans. It's expected to change them rather than kill them. It seemed like that object -whatever it is- gets to pick which to hurt and which to change. I've looked at it that way: if it falls on a car for example it's most likely to destroy it but if it falls on a market or a house it doesn't even affect it. Factories get destroyed but bicycles don't. So, it seems like only things that hurt our planet get destroyed and others which are harmless survive. We're not quite sure yet how it works. We only know that a really bright glare happens. We're not sure it's before or after the fall, nobody who'd seen it was sure. Only one incident was claimed to have fallen on a person. That was in 1992. After that we never managed to capture him to do some tests and know what happened to him. He managed to escape each and every time we get close. It was like he disappears. He was scared of us and we don't even know if he's alive somewhere. That's what brought me to think that these objects might cause some sort paranormal projections of powers. I believed the guy could actually be invisible but of course no one believed me and I ended up here making a site about a theory I am the only one that believes it."

Dr. Robert G. Bourdon

NY University

r..com

That was what I read; I stopped at that last line with one single thought "Can all what's happening to us be considered as 'paranormal projections of powers'?"

That guy sure knows how to talk, I thought. He really is not capable of summing up. The site had loads of pages all supporting that theory. One thing is for sure, he does believe what he's saying.

I started taking it all in. the glare, the wrecked cars, the paranormal stuff that's been happening to us. It was all there, all the elements except for one thing; it did kill a human… Aiko.

I froze at the thought thinking that I might be wrong to consider that theory or the fantasy of a wacky scientist. Or may be Aiko is not dead after all, I mean we never really found her, have we?

All these thoughts kept rushing in my head. I didn't know what to think anymore. It all seemed incredibly unbelievable and I simply couldn't process all that. I thought if I went to Chester or Mike with this kind of thing they'll just put me away at some mental hospital. They're my friends and I trust them but that was too much for any human to take in.

I finally made up my mind and decided to e-mail that professor or whatever. I decided to make it short just for starters to see where this is all going.

"Dear Sir,

I've read your theory about the 'paranormal projections of powers' and I'm really impressed. I'd really like further discussion with you about this. If you are interested please e-mail me back.

Thank you."

I sent the e-mail and left and pc for good. I had a long day and Mike didn't make it any easier. And then I remembered "MIKE!"

I rushed back to his place remembering his final thoughts, shuddering at the memory of them. I got in and Chester was there. He looked concerned as soon as he saw me. That was the moment I realized I had a panic look on my face. He came to me pacing the floor I knew then that his feelings, his concern were genuine.

"Wow, what's wrong?" He said that once he saw me at the door and started rushing my way.

"Umm… Nothing. Where's Mike?" I tried not to say too much but he was already reading in to me.

"Yeah! Right! Nothing! Oh Claire! Please... Anyways Mike is in his room." He left my hand which he was holding and turned away, upset. I could tell that he was really upset and I didn't need my psychic powers for it. He used my full name 'Claire' none of my friends call me that. Not him especially since he's all for shorter names. He called me "Kay" all along and now I'm 'Claire'. "Well, that's just perfect!" I thought, frustrated and headed to Mike's room where he was asleep.

I was grateful. I didn't know what I was going to tell him if he was awake. I got back to Chester and sat beside him on the couch, leaned on his shoulder looking up to his face. He was surprised but it didn't show on his face, I just… knew.

"You never tell me what's wrong with you…" He stopped but it seemed like he had a lot more to say.

"And you come running to tell me everything." I repeated this after I heard it from him but his wide open eyes told me that he didn't really say them.

"Yes! I tell you everything." He replied with no expression.

"Yeah I know!" I was angry now. "You tell me EVERYTHING! Sometimes things I don't want to hear" I had a flash back and it made me even angrier. "Especially about your girls"

With his eyes wide open "My girls?"

Now I was losing my temper and I had to control it. He has no clue I have feelings for him so it's normal to talk to me about his dates. And…

I was trying to convince myself with the facts to calm down but he… He just didn't give me a chance. For some strange reason he started thinking of his latest date and I had to watch scenes of a semi-porno movie in my head. And that was it. I screamed at him and started toward the open door which slammed shut suddenly before I got through it. I was no longer surprised, I already know –even if I couldn't bring myself to admit it- that we did have some sort of super powers or 'paranormal projections of powers' as the 'nutty' professor called it.

I turned to him knowing how his face would look. He didn't say a word, apparently too surprised.

"I can explain…" I paused, uncertain if I should be doing this-telling him, then I went on "if you promise to listen and not call me crazy."

"I…" he was really angry, and he didn't finish his sentence. He was insulted by the fact that I didn't trust him enough to tell him. I wished he was the one reading how I felt right now because I did trust him even more than trusting myself. I was going to tell him anyway. But he didn't know that.

"Okay, you're telekinetic and I'm an empath or a telepath… may be both, I'm still not sure." I didn't mean to blurt it out like this with that particular tone. I couldn't even believe me and I was the one talking. The appropriate response of Chester was laughter and I wasn't going to blame him.

For my surprise he didn't laugh and his response was the last thing I could expect.

"I know" the shock now covered my face and he saw it but he continued anyway. "And Mike manipulates the weather somehow."

I was still staring at him, not believing that he's actually telling me this. After a while of silence he figured out that I was not going to answer him so he continued.

"And you ARE BOTH. You're an empath and a telepath. I'm not sure how that happened really. But you got the least lucky part and the two most painful ones." He paused and with the continuous silence on my side, he went on.

"Mike knows. And we knew you had a feeling about it but I didn't want to burden you more, you already are burdened and overwhelmed with all this."

I finally interrupted. Angry. They knew! And left me with a horrible headache, nightmares and unanswered questions and for what!

"You knew…and didn't tell me. Well, thanks a lot really." My tone was calm but my face was on fire, I was sure it was.

"I'm sorry, but it's all strange and new. How would I know what hurts you and what comfort you?"

"It's okay. Now that you do know, tell me everything" I could understand his point. I was in that very same situation. Now that I could think again I wanted to know everything.

He started with a smug smile on face. "First I'm sorry about what you just saw…" he paused not sure of how to finish his sentence.

"I mean my girlfriend and me. I've been trying to be very careful around you but I didn't expect you to be all that mad. But I have good news, you can tune it out."

I wasn't very happy about the 'good news' I was more relieved that he didn't dwell on "why I was too angry about him and his girl." But it was still good news.

"Continue" mike's voice came from behind me but I wasn't startled.

"Hey Mike. You're a wake!"

"I wasn't asleep. You should know that psychic!" his mood was a little bit lighter than the usual extra dark tone he always has. I was pleased to see him like that.

"We're still not sure about that" I answered with a smile.

"Actually we are! We've got the whole thing covered now." Chester said that and waved his hand in a strange way simultaneously all pillows on the couches flew around. I was way passed the phase of surprise. Mike and I looked at him, bored.

"Get to the point" Mike said in a serious tone.

"Okay. So, I contacted this college professor Rob something."

"Rob Bourdon" I interrupted mechanically.

"You saw the site too!"

I nodded.

"Well, I'm telekinetic. And I'm getting good at it. And you hear thought sometimes and feel others' emotions and contact people who have abilities with your dreams…"

"What?" I wanted far more explanation on that part.

"Haven't you experienced it yet? It's like something that comes with your package; you can dream with people and communicate with them because they'll have the same dream. And we… I mean people with powers, can send you dreams too. You can look for someone or talk to someone and pretty amazing stuff. Rob said he'd like you to help him look for the invisible man or whatever."

"So my dreams are from alive people, right?" I asked anxious to hear an answer that really appealed to me.

"Alive?" Mike asked, seemed anxious too but he didn't get what I meant.

"I think." Chester started. "Or you'll be getting messages from the dead." He laughed but then with my face too serious and Mike's face changing. He realized the point.

After a while of silence when no one was really able to form a question or spell the obvious one, Mike decided to be the one to say it.

"You dreamt of Aiko." He said with a steady tone not asking but merely verbalizing an obvious fact.

"Yes." I simply answered.

"So either way she's contacting you. I mean you're different now. You don't hallucinate or have meaningless dreams. All your dreams are part of your special power now." Chester said in a hopeful way standing up and heading for the phone.

He dialed and talked in a low voice. I couldn't hear what he was saying through the noise of Mike's tornado of thoughts and feelings. Mike was difficult to be around. After Aiko, and me feeling what he's feeling besides my own thoughts and feelings was a lot to handle. I admired his loyalty to her, but I felt really bad for being so helpless, unable to help him in anyway.

I felt like I was drowning. No, I WAS drowning. Drowning in his thoughts and mine. I couldn't see the light anymore. Everything just went black and I felt dizzy. But I still heard his thoughts and felt his feelings. All Aiko. It's the only distinct word I got from all this and the more distinct feeling was… deep, deep sorrow.

Chester's yell saved me. Suddenly I saw the room again. And the dizziness gone away. My senses were alert now.

"YES!" Chester yelled.

Mike turned and so did I waiting for an explanation to this sudden excitement in his voice.

"You can't contact the dead, but you can't have normal dreams. So, that means that Aiko IS still alive and contacting you." He said to me.

And there was silence. Nothing but silence.


	6. Chapter 6

Chapter six~ TRUTH

"Rob is coming over." Chester added after a while of silence when neither I nor Mike responded to his announcement.

"Aiko is alive!" Mike asked ignoring Chester's latest words.

"Rob is coming? Why?" I didn't want to think of Aiko. I didn't want to get my hopes up too high because a second hit of this and there would be nothing left in me to live. I chose to focus on Rob's visit which I really wanted to happen as soon as possible to try to understand all these rules and information that comes out of nowhere.

"He said he wants to meet us face to face and help us with our new responsibilities." Chester answered.

"Aiko is alive." Mike kept repeating the phrase again and again and again, out loud and in his head with different emotions and not merely for us to hear, he just kept saying it, to himself.

"He's bringing a couple of his friends too." Chester added trying to ignore Mike and so did I. We didn't know if we should say something to him or just let him be, he seemed in another world to Chester but I knew he was in another world, her world, Aiko's world.

"Why?" I asked, furious. "I don't intend to go public with this you know." I added.

"I don't know why. We'll ask him when he gets here." Chester replied, irritated by my tone.

"Mike." I called but he didn't answer. He was quiet now with his head between his hands and leaning forward with his elbows on his knees.

"Mike!" I called again, louder to pull him out of his train of thoughts.

"Yes?" He answered, but he didn't even bother to raise his head.

"What's wrong with you man? She's alive! You should be happy or at least hopeful" Chester said when it was clearly obvious that I'm lost in my words not knowing what to say to him.

Before Mike could answer -which I doubt that he was going to- the door bell rang. I looked at Chester and he looked at Mike. We weren't expecting company and Rob couldn't be here so soon it's only been a minute since we called him.

But it was Rob. I thought we lost track of time and didn't think of it much. Rob came in with his two friends and they were in such a mess. Well, not Rob, he looked perfect while his other two friends were a mess. The bold one was wet like he'd been swimming fully clothed, and the other was wet too but not as much, he looked like he was going to throw up. I looked at the scene baffled and decided to ask.

"Why…" I completed the question with pointing at the two messy guys.

"Oh you don't know? There's a huge storm out there, I think it's a tornado or something. It's started only a few minutes ago before that there was nothing. Well, before that there were only the simple weird weather changes that we've been having lately but this… this is HUGE!" The Bold guy answered, but it still didn't explain the strange "seasick" expression on the other guy's face.

"And you'd think something this big would be on the news to warn people but it's not." The other guy said looking angry about the whole situation and he still looked like hell with his "I'm gonna be sick" expression.

"This is Brad Delson and this is Dave Farrell…" Rob said and the bold guy, Dave, corrected him quickly.

"Phoenix! Just call me Phoenix" He said with a smile.

"Phoenix? Why? Is that like a nickname or something?" I asked, smiling back at him.

"Well, it's…" Dave started, but Rob interrupted him.

"It's just a nickname, never mind that." He said while giving Phoenix a meaningful look.

"They don't know yet." Rob didn't actually say that, he thought it while interrupting Phoenix and that was all I got from him.

We sat down in a circle on the couches and started talking about different things, all of us intentionally avoiding the main subject.

"Yeah yeah great. Everything is so fucking great! What are we going to do about Aiko?" Mike finally snapped. I felt a shiver running through my spine when he said that especially with the deafening sound of thunder that accompanied it. Only then I knew why the tornado was so sudden and "huge." It was Mike causing it. His anger, frustration and his feelings about Aiko that found their way to the surface once again had all helped to cause such a major nature disaster. I knew there was nothing he could really do about it so I didn't say anything; I didn't want to make him feel guiltier.

None of us was surprised by his action considering his sensitive situation and the fact that he hadn't said a word since they arrived.

"Right." Rob started. "Well, first we need to train you to control your talents. Especially you, and immediately." He looked at me and his tone became more serious.

"Me? Why 'especially me'?" I asked.

"Because all your powers are going to get a lot more sensitive and stronger and for you that means 'overload' with a lot of headaches and shudders and feelings and spasms and a lot of other unpleasant things."

"Oh." I understood, I was already suffering.

"And for you guys it's easier but still needs practice." Rob said to Chester and Mike.

"What about Aiko?" Mike repeated, saying each word distinctly.

"Until she is fully trained, there isn't much that we can do about it." He said pointing at me.

"Why?" Mike asked, perplexed.

"Because she's the only one who can actually contact her." He justified.

"And how long would it take you train her?" Mike asked frustrated.

"It depends on the kind of power and how sensitive it is, and in that case… very sensitive." He said looking at me like I'm some sort of a science project.

I felt everything become my responsibility and only mine. My heart started racing. Why do they have to count on me? I'm not reliable, I never were. I mess up and that's who I am but when it comes down to Aiko, I can't handle messing up. My chest felt tighter and tighter and I had to divide my attention and theirs and I decided to ask the question that I wanted to ask all along.

"How do you know so much?" I asked Rob.

"Excuse me?" He surprised by the sudden change of the subject.

"I mean these couldn't be only theories, could it? You seem to know a lot more than a bunch of theories. And you're almost certain of everything and you classified our powers and estimated time for training and even expected upcoming problems concerning my ability." I explained.

"Abilities." He corrected stressing the plural form.

"Excuse me?" Now was my turn not to understand.

"Your 'abilities' not 'ability.' You'd be surprised at how much you can do with this. You do know it's not just the dreams, the thoughts and the feelings right?" He said smiling.

"What! There's more?" I half screamed the last part. I could feel blood draining from my face and my chest was getting even tighter, if that was possible. 'I can't handle more of this' this was my only thought.

"Of course!" He looked surprised that I didn't know. Lights in the room started flickering and I wondered about that. Mike and Chester never had a problem with electricity. Rob and Phoenix looked at Brad a strange look while the light flickered. I had no idea what was going on, so much for my psychic powers.

"Excuse me. May I use the bathroom?" It seemed like Brad's words were merely a reacting to Rob's look.

"Sure. It's right there." Chester answered pointing toward the bathroom.

"Why me?" I wondered frustrated. I didn't even mean it as a question. Not surprisingly Rob had an answer for that too.

"Well, it's something that has to do with a lot of factors. Most importantly your position while the meteor hit and your personality… I mean your ability to handle it and the way you'll handle it."

"See! This is what I was talking about before YOU changed the subject. You know too much. Way too much. How?" I asked furious, not at him but at everything that's happening to me.

"Because I did a lot of research!" He said seeming surprised by my angry temper and the fact that the answer is too obvious.

"No! This has to be something more than just researches. She's right. You do know too much for a 'normal' professor." Chester said, a little angry too. I was grateful. He always had my back.

"May be I'm a good professor?" Rob said, bragging.

"Oh you are! But that is not just researches. This is experiments and facts and a lot of other things that I'd like to know where it came from right now!" Chester's cop personally just emerged for a second. The seriousness of the tone of his voice was compelling. I felt like I was in questioning. If it was me he was asking, I'd have answered him immediately.

Rob and Phoenix exchanged a look and Brad was nowhere to be found. He was still in the bathroom and lights have stopped flickering as soon as he left and I was grateful for both. His sick face and the flickering light weren't making me any better.

'Tell them already!' That was Phoenix thought while looking at Rob trying to convey it throw his eyes. Apparently Chester's compelling voice didn't work on me only. I could see Rob's face as he gave up and decided to tell us everything.

"Well… You are right. It's not just researches. It's experiments and loses and a history. And you are right about another thing. I am not a 'normal' professor." Rob said, stressing the last part.

"I'm listening." Chester said encouraging him to continue.

"The invisible guy that we never found, the one I said he was the only case, remember him?" He asked.

"Yes. What about him?" Chester replied.

"He's not. He's not the only case." Rob said with a sad expression on his face.

"Uh-huh" I nodded.

"Okay, this could take a while to explain. I think I'd better show you." Rob said, starting to get a little impatient.

"Umm I'm a uh… I'm a teleport." Rob spelled it out finally as he disappeared.

Not for long though. He appeared in a fraction of a second behind Mike and then disappeared again, and reappeared behind me.

"Don't freak! You shouldn't be even surprised with all the crazy things you do." Rob said from behind me and his words actually made sense, except for the 'teleport' part. I had no idea what he meant.

"So what does a 'teleport' do exactly?" I asked surprisingly at ease and I could tell I surprised them too.

"Basically I think of a place or a person and suddenly I'm there!" He explained.

"Wow! This sounds cool. Does it take you long with distances?" I asked, impressed.

"Not really! It all takes the same fraction of a second. Actually 0.2 to be exact." He replied, a little smug.

"Is there others out there?" Chester asked, looking interested.

"There's Phoenix and Brad." Rob said looking at Brad who finally showed up.

"I control machines I guess, everything with electricity including technologies like computers and cell phones and TV's... etc." Brad said it all at once like he's been waiting for that moment to get it off his chest.

"You guess?" Chester asked and I wondered if Mike is going to say anything. He's been awfully silent ever since Rob said he's a teleport. He didn't even express any sort of surprise.

"Well, I'm not sure what else I can control, I only know what I tried to control which is lights and PC's and TV's and cell phones and satellites." Brad replied.

"Nice! Really cool. What about you 'phoenix'?" I asked him.

"Let's just say the name 'Phoenix' is not just a nickname" He replied smiling.

"Oh really? So what is it besides your nickname?" I replied returning his smile. Something about his face or his personality made me comfortable to smile.

"What do you know about the phoenix?" He asked. He seemed to enjoy this exciting atmosphere he's making, not telling us right away what he can do unlike Brad who spelled it out in no time.

"It's some sort of a mythical bird" I replied enjoying the atmosphere he's creating.

"Exactly!" He said it with a little too much excitement in his voice and then he started to elevate. He kept elevating till he reached the roof and touched it with his hands and then went back to the couch.

"Wow!" I was impressed.

"There's something else about the phoenix." He hesitated and I couldn't figure out why.

"What else?" I asked.

"Um you know how it's reborn from its ashes?" He asked, still hesitant.

"Yes I know that, but I still can't see the connection here." I said, getting bored of this game, wishing he'd just spelled it out like the others.

"Umm I'm not sure how to say this… I… I don't… die" He finally said the word.

"Ah… like never?" Chester asked, perplexed. Still Mike isn't making any signs of at least hearing what we were saying and I started to get worried.

"No. Not really. I heal quite fast." Phoenix replied.

"So how did you get here so fast?" I asked knowing half the answer. Obviously Rob teleported here and Phoenix flew here and that would explain the soaked clothes but what about Brad? I wondered.

"Rob teleported and Phoenix flew." Brad answered and both Rob and Phoenix started to laugh.

"What about you?" I asked Brad who seemed a little bit embarrassed.

"I carried him and he's afraid of flying." Phoenix said bursting out laughing and I laughed too. Now I finally know the reason of Brad's sick expression.

"So let me get this straight. We have a teleport, a weather-man, a telekinetic, a phoenix, a technopath, and finally a crazy psychic. What a group!" I said scanning the room. Mike finally seemed to have something to say.

"So you can go anywhere or go to anyone just by thinking of them right?" Mike asked Rob. I thought it was a little odd just repeating what we've been talking about for the last hour or so.

"Yes." Rob simply answered.

"To anyone?" Mike asked again.

"Yeah." Rob replied. He had no idea what Mike's purpose was of this, just like the rest of us.

"So can you teleport to Aiko?" Mike asked anxiously.

It was weird how all Mike's thoughts return to Aiko eventually. She was my best friend and Chester's friend. She was more than a friend and we were torn to know that she was gone but to Mike she was not a friend or even a lover… She was the point of his whole existence. That's what I finally realized while we waited impatiently for Rob's answer.


	7. Chapter 7

Chapter seven~ BLOCK

"I don't know…" Rob paused for a second and then continued "I don't even know how she looks like"

"Would a photo help?" Mike replied quickly pulling out his wallet even faster and taking out a photo of Aiko that was in it.

"Yeah I think so" Rob replied taking the photo from Mike.

He started studying the photo, as we all stared –especially Chester and I- not believing that this nightmare could be over soon and that we'd finally get to know where Aiko is. I felt relieved on some level that it's not up to me anymore to find her. The thought of seeing her again made me feel something I've not felt in a really long time. It could have been happiness, but I wouldn't know that I haven't felt it in a really long time.

Rob sure took his time studying the photo. It was a photo of her and Mike when they first met. It was actually their first time to see each other ever. Mike was wondering around taking photos of things that got his interest and then he saw her. As he put it later on "She had some sort of magnet power that I just couldn't resist." He took her photo without permission and when she turned to yell, she froze. I was there and that was the only time I saw Aiko like this. I started to speak for her when she just kept staring at him and he stared back but she pointed at me to shut up so I did waiting for an explanation. "Its okay" she said after a few seconds of just looking at each other's eyes. Then he leaned beside her and held the camera away from him to take the picture of them both also without her permission. He thanked her with a charming smile and the look in his eyes was like he was falling in love or something. If I didn't know better I would have thought he's her lover. Later we found out that he and Chester are our next door neighbors and that's how…

"I think I can do it" Rob broke the silence and cut off my thoughts as well.

"Really?" Mike, Chester, and I asked in the same exact second.

"Yeah, I'm going to teleport there right now but I can't promise anything and I can't teleport her back with me either." Rob said sounding disappointed with himself.

"It's okay. Just tell us where she is and we'll go get her." Mike pleaded.

"Okay then" Rob answered and disappeared.

Not for long though. In a fraction of a second he was flying across the room. He reappeared in the exact same spot where he disappeared but he wasn't still. It was like he's being pushed by some unseen power. It pushed him all the way to the kitchen counter where he hit the wall and landed on the counter breaking everything on it.

We were in a shock, frozen, paralyzed for a few seconds before we rushed up to help him. I was the first one there, he was barely conscious, probably because of the hit on the head that he just had. He also had a long cut along his arm probably because of the glasses that he landed on.

Before I could touch him to move him and help him he started elevating. I was beyond feeling surprised now with everything that's happening. I turned to see where the others are and I found my explanation. Chester was helping his him using own unique way. He was raising his hands in a strange way consistent with Rob's movements in the air and I realized that he was moving Rob with his newly acquired powers and the rest of them were making room on the couch for Chester to land Rob on.

As Chester carried, or elevated, Rob across the room I stared in wonder. It seemed so not real. Everything that's happening to us is too unbelievable for anyone to believe even if it was right in front of you and you're watching it with your own eyes.

I went to get the first-aid kit while the rest of the transfer took place. When I got back Rob was conscious but his arm was bleeding a lot. I started working on it, cleaning the wound as he started talking.

"There was someone else with you when the meteor landed." It wasn't a question as much as it was a statement. He seemed fairly sure of it.

We were silent for a moment trying to collect our thoughts to answer, when it took us long enough, he continued.

"Why didn't you tell me?" He asked, seeming a little bit angry.

"We… um… didn't think it was important." I hesitated.

"And why is that?" Rob asked.

"Because he's dead." Chester answered in Rob's same angry tone.

"And how exactly do you know that?" Rob asked, sarcastic.

"Because the meteor landed on the guy exactly." I answered a little bit angry too. I did not like his tone.

"Didn't you people learn anything from my theory on that site?" Rob yelled. I couldn't figure out why he was so angry.

"What's going on exactly? Where are you going with this?" Mike asked, impatient.

I was still working on Rob's arm while Brad and Phoenix sat in ominous silence. Their silence was uncomfortable, it felt like there's more to it than just…silence. Rob opened his mouth to say something but Brad exchanged a look with him and as a result Rob didn't say anything. It seemed like it was Brad's turn to explain but he didn't say anything either.

"So?" Mike insisted when Rob still didn't answer his question.

"Oh come on! Spit it out already Brad!" Phoenix said.

"Okay, remember on Rob's site he said that meteors don't kill humans and that it kind of picks what it lands on or something like that?" Brad finally started.

"Yeah." Chester replied.

"Well then why did you think that the guy is dead?" Rob asked, still angry.

"We actually didn't think of it." Chester hesitated.

"Well you should have." Phoenix said.

"I'm not sure how to explain this." Brad started. "With every meteor that falls there's some sort of pattern… there has to be some sort of … a power collection if I may call it. There has to be active powers like ours with the exception of Kay since she can't do anything physical... yet. And there has to be inactive ones like Kay's powers and the block." Brad stopped talking as if he fulfilled his explanation although we still didn't understand anything.

"The block?" I asked.

"Okay, I didn't want you to know this so soon but…" Rob started and seemed lost in his words.

"What?" I was getting impatient and worried. I felt like I had a huge unpleasant surprise heading my way.

"You can do very much everything any of us does, but only if we're around." Phoenix explained but I still didn't understand. He continued when he saw the confused expression on my face.

"Okay, remember when the lights flickered a while ago and Brad left for the bathroom?" Phoenix asked.

"Yes." I replied, still confused.

"That was you causing it." Phoenix said.

"Excuse me! Didn't you say Brad can control electricity? He was the one doing this not me!" I said defensively.

"It was my powers but you're using them. See, you can imitate our powers when we're around you and you'll learn how to control them with time. You only used them now because you were really nervous. Emotional stress tends to cause that." Brad answered trying to comfort me.

"Still you didn't explain anything about the block!" Mike said.

"With every meteor there's a power collection, there's a psychic and a block and a bunch of active powers. In this case Kay is the psychic and the block is the person who the meteor falls on and he has the ability to block the powers of the rest of the group. Sometimes it's only physical block and sometimes both physical and psychic block." Rob said.

"Huh?" That was all I could manage.

"Well, you can contact Aiko through dreams so if he's only a physical block that would mean that you would be able to contact her, but if he's a psychic block too then he won't let you get through to her like he did with me." Rob explained.

"How do we know if he's physical or psychic?" Chester asked.

"He's physical that's for sure!" Rob said looking at his arm and then went on. "That meteor that fell on you seems very strong. I'm saying that because of Kay's powers. Usually it's only either an empath or a telepath or the tele-dreaming power not all three combined. So, I'm not really sure that the block would be weak and have one kind of power or strong and have a combination like you do. The only way to find out is to try." Rob said.

"Try?" I asked.

"You'll have to be trained first but then you'll be able to contact her." Rob replied.

"So, each meteor has a collection of powers that is divided into 3; Active powers, a psychic and a block. The strength of each of them depends on how strong the meteor was and the position of each one while it hit. And our meteor is different because I have a combination of powers. And how exactly do you know all this?" I asked after trying and failing to make sense of it all.

"Long story, I'll tell you later." Rob replied.

"Still that doesn't explain why you couldn't teleport to Aiko." Mike said after a long while of silence.

"No, actually it does! The block "blocked" me!" Rob said.

"Why?" Mike asked with a horror-struck face.

"I don't know!" Rob replied.

"Does that block have to be with Aiko to block you?" Mike asked and I understood why his face looked so horrified.

"Yeah, like Kay has to be close to people to hear their thoughts" Rob explained.

Mike looked horrified and angry at the same time as he turned to Chester and started yelling.

"Does that mean that Aiko… my Aiko is now trapped with your filthy murder suspect?"


	8. Chapter 8

Chapter eight~ TRAINING

Thunder struck again with Mike's words. It made me shudder. It wasn't really a question when I thought of it because no one could possibly know the answer to this. The thought of Aiko with that man -whose mere mentioning creeps me out-, was just as frightening as the thought of her being dead. Who knows what that guy could be doing to her? I didn't want to think of the possibilities. I couldn't think of one good reason for him to keep her that long without telling us or even asking for a ransom if that was some sort of kidnapping. Mike stormed out heading toward the door not even waiting for an answer.

"You're going out! Now! With this storm?" I asked him, shouting just for him to hear me over the ominous sound of thunder.

"Yeah, why not? I'm the one causing it after all, aren't I?" He yelled his reply shutting the door loudly making me jump off my seat. For a second I considered him having some sort of super strength besides his weather control thing, but then I dismissed the idea remembering how bad-tempered Mike gets when it comes down to Aiko's life. I was a little surprised to know that he picked up on the fact that he's the one causing the storm.

"Aiko is really with him! What could he possibly want with her?" Chester wondered in a voice so low that I realized he was only talking to himself. Rob, Brad, and Phoenix exchanged a look… again. I was starting to get tired of this, of their secrets, of their hesitation to tell us the whole truth once and for all.

"What is it?" I yelled, exasperated.

"Nothing!" Brad replied quickly.

"No! You keep doing that "look" and I'm pretty sure it's not nothing!" I was furious now.

"Long story, I'll tell you later." Again Rob ended the conversation with that same phrase that annoyed me.

"Is 'later' ever going to come?" I asked, still angry.

"Yeah tomorrow at 4pm. Does that work with your schedules?" Rob answered, addressing both me and Chester. Again he answered a question that I asked nearly sure it doesn't have an answer.

"What schedules?" I asked, confused, consumed by guilt. I knew the first feeling was mine since I wasn't successfully following Rob's track of thought, which is something I never did since he came over. But the second feeling wasn't mine. By now I was able to tell if what I was feeling was mine or someone else's. The guilt was coming from a few inches to my right. It was Chester. It was like he got disconnected from the whole world when Mike said his final words before storming out. He realized -as we all did- that Aiko is now with his murder suspect and that was enough to send him away and absolutely disconnect him. His guilt was too much, it made me feel harder to concentrate on my conversation with Rob and I needed my full attention for that one. Something about Rob's way of talking and delivering information made me feel like he's a hard guy, and there was some deep deep wound inside of him that he didn't want anyone to know about it or go anywhere near it.

"Training sessions starts tomorrow at 4pm. I'm training you. Brad is training Chester and Phoenix is training Mike. It's the most convenient way because every pair has similar powers… in away, A hidden pattern that I'll tell you "later" about." He winked at me at the last part. I realized he noticed how much that phrase annoyed me.

"Where?" I asked, pleased by the idea that I'd finally control this. It became a necessity again after Rob failed to save Aiko himself.

"Lincoln park. 4pm. Tell Mike. Tell Chester too because apparently he's daydreaming or something right now. And don't forget." He replied, apparently he gave a lot of thought to this. Lincoln Park was the perfect place for our freak show. It was beautiful but now it's abandoned. Nobody ever goes there, and the grass was left to grow and grow till it turned into some sort of a forest. It was safe, empty and open doors… my kind of place.

I opened my mouth to comment on his perfect preparation but he interrupted.

"You didn't tell me! Does that time work with your schedule?" He asked.

"Yep, it's fine." I lied, but I didn't really care. I kissed my college year goodbye long time ago and I knew for sure that I'm repeating it anyway so why bother. Aiko is my priority now and training was extremely important at this point, it was my only way to solve this once and for all.

"Okay then. I think we'd better get going." Rob said.

"Yeah see you tomorrow then." Phoenix said standing up.

"See ya." Brad said, standing up too, following their lead.

After they left I sat for a second considering my options. I wasn't sure what to say to Chester now. I felt bad for him, even worse as I knew how he felt exactly. I decided to tell him nothing… but the truth.

"Chester. You okay?" I asked tentatively.

"I'm fine." He obviously lied, raising his head to look at me.

"No you're not. I'm an empath, remember?" I said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Right." Was all he said.

"It's not your fault you know. You couldn't have known that a meteor would fall and turn us to several versions of superman. You couldn't have known that Aiko would end up with him. God knows how that happened." I whispered the last part for myself.

"It's all my fault." Chester said, sounding as depressed as Mike is.

"No it's not. It's a bad situation. A problem. And we're going to fix it. I'm going to do my best to end this Chester. I promise." I pleaded.

"We are going to fix this!" He said stressing the "we" while he said it.

"Good! That's the spirit." I said encouraging him.

"What am I going to do with Mike? I can't face him anymore." His depressed tone came back.

"Nothing. You're not going to do anything. If I know Mike well and I do, he'd be apologizing to you. He's a reasonable guy and you're his best friend, he couldn't actually be holding you responsible for something that is clearly not your fault." I told him.

"You really think so?" He asked, trying to believe it.

"Yes I do Chester, since when do I lie to you?" I said stressing "you."

"So far… haum… never." He said, clearly feeling better.

"Good. Then you'll be at the training tomorrow right?" I asked.

"What training?" He asked, bewildered. As Rob and I thought, he wasn't listening.

"Rob is making training sessions at Lincoln park daily at 4pm. Brad is training you and Phoenix is training Mike." I explained.

"What about you?" He asked.

"Rob is training me. So, don't be late. And tell Mike when he gets back." I reminded him.

"If he gets back." He murmured.

"He will, and when he does tell him. This important Chester, for all of us." I insisted.

"Okay." He agreed.

"Okay then. Do you need anything before I go?" I said unwillingly. I didn't want to leave. Spending time with him was the best thing I could ever do with my time. But I felt he needed some alone time, and so did I. It was a very weird and busy day.

"No, but thanks." He paused and then he said "Really thanks." He smiled at me a new smile. Not one of the ones I knew by heart. The look in his eyes reminded me of cartoons when the cat looks at the cooked chicken dancing and he has hearts in his eyes. I laughed at the thought until I literally saw what he was really thinking.

I saw his thought, the reason for his "new" smile and it didn't make any sense to me at all. He was thinking of kissing me, actually imagining it as he smiled. Then he started calculating the odds of what might happen if he actually did that. I started to panic, which is my usual reaction to anything, especially things related to him. I froze for a few seconds thinking of something to do. Of course thinking is not an option now since I was petrified. I choked out one word and headed for the door as fast as I could manage before he gets any more brilliant ideas.

"See ya!" was all I said.

I went to my room, laid on my bed awake. I tried to assess everything that happened today but I couldn't. It was too much events up till the last one of them, the big Chester event. "Where did that come from?" that was my only thought. I tried to think some more but I was too tired, exhausted.

The next thing I know is waking up the next morning… well, the next "noon." It was 1pm when I woke up. I couldn't believe I'd slept all that time. Even with a day as hard as yesterday, it was never like me to sleep 15 straight hours. I checked the clock on my phone to make sure, and I was sure now it was noon. It was like I blacked out more than fell asleep. It was weird but I didn't dwell on it. I started to get ready for my training session that I was eager to attend because we were actually doing something now, instead of wondering aimlessly, we were moving forward trying to save Aiko. It felt a lot better than just waiting around doing nothing. It made me feel almost excited.

I was the first one at the park. I took my time appreciating the silence. It was my favorite thing of all, although lately it became a lot harder for me to have a few moments of pure silence. Rob was the first one to arrive. He had a beautiful woman's image in his head. It popped up as soon as he saw me. Yesterday when he visited us the same image popped in his head too. She didn't look anything like me but for some reason I apparently remind him of her. Brad arrived a little bit after Rob and then Chester and Mike came together talking to each other. It seemed like things were okay again between the two of them. I was relieved to see them okay again. Finally Phoenix arrived and the group completed.

We started separating into groups. The Mike/Phoenix group took the furthest part of the park, unlike the Chester/Brad group who kept hovering around us –The Kay/Rob group.

Mike and Phoenix were particularly loud. Not in terms of human voices but other sounds like the thunder booming and the rain falling heavily forming small lakes and loads of mud. Lightning hit a few times first trees and then Phoenix himself got hit by it. I was thankful the guy could heal or we'd be grieving for one more person. They were far, so I couldn't tell what their training was like exactly but I got hints. Mike was trying everything on Phoenix. I thought Phoenix got the worst part of that deal. Mike soaked him with rain, hit him by lightning several times, flew him in the air with very powerful wind. I started to see more and more how wise and brilliant was Rob's grouping. Phoenix was the only one capable of training Mike. He can't die and he can fly so he will be able to manage himself if Mike's powers with the wind failed to land him nicely on the ground. By the end of the session Mike managed to make snow too, apparently Phoenix can't freeze either.

A little closer to me and Rob, there was Chester and Brad. These two were noisy and kind of annoying. They got a long real quickly and they found out that they shared a few personality characteristics like the passion for harassing people. Unlike Phoenix, Brad was not the object of Chester's experiments; instead he was guiding him through it. Apparently their powers worked with the same mechanism. Again the brilliance of Rob's Choice appeared. The objects of Chester's experiments were me and Rob unfortunately. Chester tried to move everything around us and with Brad's tips Chester got a lot better and more perfect at it and even more and more annoying. He moved my bag and even opened it and elevated my cell. Of all our powers Chester's seemed to be the most impressive to me. Sometimes I'd wish I had his powers instead of mine but then I think about it and feel grateful that I'm the only one whose thoughts are actually private. Now he elevated my hair and Rob's glasses. Finally Rob got angry at them and just like little kids they disappeared. A few minutes later I found out where they went. They were with Mike and Phoenix… annoying them.

My group was the quietest. Actually we couldn't start doing anything until Chester and Brad backed off a little. Rob seemed troubled with something that I couldn't put my finger on. Finally he seemed to find his words to say it.

"There're a few things that you should know before we start anything here." Rob started.

"Okay…" I replied, anticipating.

"You always wonder about how I know so much, actually you wonder too much about it." He teased.

"Well, don't blame me! You're the one jumping with answers for everything, making sense of every insane experience that we had." I replied, teasing too.

"Yeah… I think it's time you hear it all." Rob said quietly.

"I'm listening" I encouraged.

"I'm no genius, but everything that's happening to you now has happened to me before." He paused and then went on. "There are a lot of people out there like us. Every meteor is unique in its own way. I've gathered a lot of information and met a lot of people and did a lot of experiments over the years. Our meteor was a little bit more unique than usual. We didn't have a block. My group was also five people. A meteor affects the closest five people to its radius. My wife … the love of my life was with me and she had your power. Not all of it, she was only a telepath. She couldn't handle it." He stopped talking, his eyes were watering.

"It's okay." I lied. I knew it wasn't okay. I knew this was just another bad surprise waiting for me.

"I know why your block is holding Aiko hostage." He said. I wasn't sure if he was changing the subject or if we were still talking about the same thing. He was really confusing that way.

"You do?" I asked, surprised he didn't bring it up sooner.

"He's after her powers and yours. But he can't do it with out you. He needs you to do it because you can contact all people with powers. And somehow he can do that unless you're powerful enough to stop him. My wife… died trying to stop a block from having our powers. She gave up. She was too tired of it and she couldn't take it anymore. She just… gave up." He turned away looking at nothing, hiding his tears probably.

"Oh my god. I'm so very sorry. I really am." I said.

"It's okay. It was a long time ago, and now she's the one I'm doing all this for. I did all my research so no one would have to go through what she's been through." He said his voice even.

"That's really brave of you." I complemented, impressed.

"Now let's talk about your powers. Before we start, I think there's something I need to clarify." He said.

"Shoot." I encouraged.

"I noticed you're a little confused about how your dreaming ability works. It's not really a dream; it's only called that because it echoes in your dreams and also in the dreams of the person that you're contacting. But generally you contact people awake or asleep. It works either way."

"Okay, let's get started then." I said.

The following days were busy. Chester and Mike got a lot better quickly. I got better too. I managed to control my abilities and theirs. I liked hanging around Chester the most, to show off my telekinesis. I also had homework. I tapped into Chester and Mike's dreams as well as contacting them awake. It was very simple. I think of someone and suddenly I'm in their head, I deliver the message and get out. No matter how long this message is, it only takes a second in the real world. They learned to contact me too. It was a little exhausting so we didn't do it a lot. But it was kind of fun though.

Now was the moment of truth. After 8 whole days, we were ready. I was ready. I was ready to contact Aiko. We gathered in my house and I sat on the couch between Brad and Chester and Rob facing me, trying to guide me through it. I closed my eyes and thought of her. It was all going normal and she started hovering in my peripheral vision when suddenly everything disappeared and I couldn't get out of my trance. I was trapped not with Aiko and not in my world. And then my head started hurting so much I thought that this it. I thought I was going to die the same way Rob's wife did. I felt my body being pushed around. I tried to resist but I couldn't. Unlike Rob I didn't get pushed across the room. I was pushed far enough to land on the coffee table and have a gushing wound along my arm as well.

Chester got the first-aid kit in a heart beat and started bandaging my arm. I looked at them dizzily trying to hear their words.

"He's a Psychic block too." Rob said, frustrated.

"So what do we do now?" Chester asked, worried.

"We'll have to find Joe." Phoenix said, calmly.

"Who?" Mike asked, confused.

"The invisible guy." Brad replied.


	9. Chapter 9

Chapter nine~ TRACK DOWN

I wasn't dizzy anymore. My fall wasn't as strong as Rob's and I was focused now trying to understand, trying to know the next move.

"Didn't you say he was impossible to find? Besides, what good would an invisible guy do to us?" I asked, trying to make sense of what they're saying.

"Remember when I told you that our meteor group did not have a block?" Rob asked.

"Yeah." I replied.

"Well, we had to have something and Joe is the closest thing to a block that we have, besides his other powers." Rob explained.

"How so?" I asked again.

"He can block other powers from himself only, and that was why it was hard to find him. My wife, Regina, couldn't contact him and I couldn't teleport to him. He just kept blocking us. And he also can go through solid surfaces. Besides he's not really invisible, he just disappears when he walks through walls and stuff but I thought that was a little harder to explain so I wrote invisible to attract readers." Rob replied.

"Why does he block you?" I asked, mystified.

"Our group is five; Me, Regina, Phoenix, Brad, and Joe. Joe took it the hardest. I think he felt more of a freak and he knew that he won't be able to have a normal life around us with the dangers of our powers and controlling it and people wanting to steal them. We didn't approve of him leaving us like this, because without him we are the weaker group. Blocks are originally supposed to protect their groups against other powers. With the exceptions of some blocks who get obsessed with power and try to take it from anyone who has it. He came back in a few weeks but Regina was already dead and I couldn't forgive him and he couldn't forgive himself so he left for good. And that was the last time we saw him." Rob explained.

With Rob's last sentence, Brad and Phoenix exchanged a look. Eight days ago I would have been raging over this but now that I can control my powers I knew exactly what they were thinking. Apparently Joe has been contacting both of them and checking on Rob too, but he never really managed to face him.

"How do we find him?" Mike asked.

"I have no idea." Rob answered, frustrated.

"May be we could run his name through the Database at the Department. What's his full name?" Chester asked.

"Joseph Hahn." Rob replied.

"What about you guys? Any of you knows how to contact him?" I asked, addressing both Brad and Phoenix.

"No." Phoenix replied.

"Not really." Brad replied too.

I could see that they were telling the truth. Joe was the one contacting them not the other way around. He didn't give them any known address of him or even a phone number.

"Do you have any photos of him?" I asked, curious.

"Even if we did, you won't be able to contact him I think." Rob interrupted as Phoenix started getting out a picture of his pocket.

"Thanks." I said while taking the photo from Phoenix. It was a photo of the whole group, all five of them. I already knew how four of them looked like, including Regina as I saw her in Rob's head so 'Mr. Hahn' had to be number five. He had Asian features; I wondered where he was from.

"He's… Where's he from?" I asked.

"He's from Texas. He was born there." Phoenix answered, laughing.

"It's just his family is originally from Korea." Brad explained.

"Ah." I understood.

"Can I keep it? Please." I asked Phoenix about the photo.

"Sure, sure." He smiled back.

They all started to leave. There was nothing more we could do for now. Chester was going to run the name through the Database at the Police Department to see if we could get an address or at least a phone number. So, Rob, Brad, and Phoenix left. Then Mike left, he had some work to do. And Chester stayed hanging around aimlessly. He switched on the TV and I went to the bathroom. I wanted to see my arm wound and have a little time by myself to think.

I looked at my arm and smiled, remembering how Chester was the one to volunteer to take care of it. Suddenly the image of him kissing me jumped in my head, and I shivered. I haven't thought about that since the time it happened. I almost forgot. Without thinking I marched out the door to him.

"I saw you last week thinking of kissing me. What was that all about?" Now that I said it, I knew it was a very bad idea. I should have thought of it but it was too late now.

"Huh?" He said with a confused expression.

"Never mind then." I was kind of relieved that I can take it back. I started to walk away.

"Oh wait." He said laughing. "I remember."

"You do?" Ah Crap. My relief didn't last long.

"Yeah. I had a doubt that you knew since you ran out of the room as fast as a rocket." He seemed a little upset about it.

"…" I couldn't think of anything to say. I didn't plan this and I certainly couldn't think of anything at all while Chester is in front of me waiting for an answer.

"It's okay. Don't worry about it. If you noticed, I've been very careful with my thoughts around you. That's if you even noticed." He seemed to be really bitter about it.

I thought of taking a look to see why was all this but I wasn't sure I really wanted to know. Eventually I did.

"May be you could kiss your precious training mate instead." That's what I heard Chester thinking and I stopped then, I didn't want to know anymore. It didn't help much that I actually heard his thoughts. It only made things more complicated. Does he think I like Rob or something? I asked myself, unable to find a good answer. When I like him, he's all Mr. Innocent and doesn't get anything but when he likes me back he gets all Mr. Jerk and doesn't even give himself a chance to understand anything right.

I was angry. I started to feel heat in my ears- which probably mean that they turned red- and water in my eyes. As I felt my usual signs for crying I nodded once and turned to my room. But Chester noticed and he got up and caught my hand to stop me from walking away. I tried to take my hand back and continue walking away avoiding his eyes but I couldn't. His grip on my hand was too strong it left pink marks on my wrist.

"You heard that, didn't you?" He speculated.

I didn't answer and still trying to break free from his iron grip and walk away before he sees my tears.

"I'm so sorry Kay. I'm really sorry. I didn't mean it. Really." He said, sincerely.

"Could you please just let go. You're hurting me." I asked, but I didn't want to. I knew he didn't mean it but that didn't change the fact that he was hurting me a lot.

"Opps! Sorry. Cop instincts. Old habits die hard you know." He said letting me go.

I started walking away again but he grabbed my elbow this time.

"What is it?" He asked, concerned.

"Nothing." I lied.

"No! This is more than just annoyed by my words." He explained patiently.

It was annoying sometimes how he could know stuff like this about me when I'm the psychic one here. I didn't know if I should tell him that I liked him all along or not. I had no idea what to say or do so I remained frozen and silent.

"What is it Kay? What IS it?" He said, turning away, frustrated.

"Let it go Chester. Just let it go." That was all I managed to choke out before I continued to walk away to my room. I locked the door behind me and tried not to think about that train wreck I just caused and tried to contact Joe. A moment later I heard the apartment door shut loudly and I knew Chester stormed out, mad at me.

I pulled out the photo I took from Phoenix and stared at it for a while and then closed my eyes and thought of him. I started to feel the existence of someone else in the darkness. It started to get less dark and clearer with the passage of time and then I saw him. He seemed shocked to see me.

"How the hell did you get here?" He yelled.

"Relax; I'm just contacting you…" I started but he interrupted.

"I know what you're doing! How the hell did you manage to do that?" He yelled again, apparently too shocked to keep it down a bit.

"I don't understand what you're asking!" I yelled back.

"I block everyone who tries to use their powers on me, but you… What are you?" He asked, confused.

"What am I? I'm a human! That what I am!" I replied, furious.

"Yeah I know." He laughed. "I mean what's so special about you?"

"The meteor fell, and… you know." I replied.

He laughed again with humor and said "You're stating the obvious! I mean what's so special about you that made you manage to contact me while all other psychics failed.

"Oh! That. I'm not sure, but I've the whole package. Apparently our meteor was unique too. I'm an empath and a telepath along with the contacting thing and borrowing powers." I laughed half-heartedly at my stupid description.

"Wow! That must be quite a burden you got there" He guessed.

"Yeah but Rob helped a lot." I justified.

His face changed color at the mention of Rob's name and he was silent for a moment. Then he asked "Rob Bourdon?"

"That's the one." I smiled.

"Did he… Um… send you?" He asked.

"Not really. He said I won't be able to contact you but I thought I'd give it a shot." I replied.

"How's he?" He asked with a sad expression on his face.

"He's doing okay… I mean considering everything. I think." I replied.

"Oh." That was all he said.

"We need your help." I began.

"Who does?" He asked.

"Me and my friends do. A friend of ours is being held by a block both psychic and physical and Rob said you're the only one who could help." I explained.

"I can't." He said, looking sad again.

"Why?" I asked, confused.

"I just can't. I'm useless. Didn't Rob tell you anything about his wife?" He asked.

"He did." I answered.

"Well then you know I bailed on them and his wife died because of me." He said looking away.

"That's not how he told it to me." I challenged.

"He didn't?" he asked, anxious.

"Nope. All he said was that his wife died trying to save them from a block. Only today he mentioned you. He said you weren't around when it happened and you're feeling guilty about it." I explained.

"Yeah I should have been there and I wasn't. He didn't tell you the whole story though." He said, Confused.

"The whole story? What's more to tell?" I asked, curious.

"She didn't exactly die trying. Look, do you know why the block needs a psychic to steal the powers of a group?" He asked.

"No." I replied.

"Because psychics can borrow the other's powers. He can only draw the power from psychics because they're the most vulnerable. So he needs all of you to be in the same place so he could take everything from you and then he'd probably kill them all. Oh by the way, you'd die in the process too." He said coldly.

I swallowed and tried to sound nonchalant when I spoke again. "Okay so you didn't tell me, what is the rest of the story?" I asked.

"She didn't die trying to protect their powers. He took her away. He didn't know that she had to be around the rest of us to be useful, and then he came back and told them she died in vain, not even giving him what he wanted. He tried to take their powers directly but that killed him." He explained.

"Oh." I choked out.

"Listen! I can't go back. I won't go back. I'll only make things worse." He said.

I opened my mouth to say something but he interrupted.

"I'm not going back. Not after Regina. And this is the end of this contact. Don't ever contact me again!" He ordered.

Everything went black for a second and then I was back in my room.

I started thinking of what he said. They never really saw her die. Like what happened with Aiko. I looked at the photo and started thinking "what's the worst that could happen?"

I started contacting Regina. And I almost got a heart attack when it started working. I wasn't sure what was going on. Until the dark shape in front of me started to get clearer.


	10. Chapter 10

Chapter ten~ PREPARING

Contacting Regina, I wasn't really sure what I was going to find. Even though I doubted that she's dead, I was still petrified when I saw her and she wasn't any less petrified than I was. Her figure got clearer and I took a step toward her. Her face was drained of color and she looked scared and confused. I was confused as well by her strange reaction. I took one step closer and called her.

"Regina? You okay?" I asked in a low voice.

"What's happening?" She asked, shocked.

"Regina it's okay! I'm just contacting you." I stated the obvious for her benefit. I was confused why she didn't know what was going on.

"Contacting me? Who are you? And who is this Regina you're looking for?" She asked, confused.

"You're not Regina?" I froze. She looked exactly like Regina.

"No… I'm Emily. This is a dream, right?" She said calmly, smiling. She seemed comforted by the explanation that this is a dream.

"Emily?" I whispered to myself, wondering what went wrong.

"Well, I've been Emily for almost a year and a half now, before that I have no idea who I was." She said, telling her story comfortably. I let her think it's a dream; I didn't want her to panic.

"So Emily… Have you ever wondered about your past?" I asked, casually.

"Yeah a lot. I really needed some answers about a lot of things." She replied with a sigh.

"Like what? Have you been hearing… voices?" I asked, still trying -and failing- to sound casual.

"No!" She got really sensitive at the mention of the voices. She went on "I'm recovering now; it was just a minor problem. That's why I'm here in this hospital." She explained, sounding depressed at the last part.

"Hospital? What hospital?" I asked.

"Reno, Nevada Mental Hospital." She simply answered.

"And you've been there for the last year and a half?" I asked to make sure.

"Yeah… I don't have anywhere to go or anybody I know here." She said, sadly.

"It's okay Regina; everything is going to be just fine." I said, comforting her.

"I said I'm not Regina and who are you?" She asked.

I wasn't sure what to say to her. Should I tell her the truth? Should I cut this connection now like it is a dream? I sure wasn't the person to tell her. It didn't took me long till I lost my concentration and the connection cut off on its own.

I sat on my bed for a few minutes processing the progress I've made so far. I managed to contact Joe but that wasn't much of a success since I still don't know where he is. I'm pretty sure I can contact him again though. And now I found Regina… Well kind of. I wasn't a 100% sure but it was worth a shot. Now I had to think what my next move would be. Staying home by myself sure wasn't one of my options because I certainly didn't want to think of what I did to Chester and letting him think what he thinks or leave like he did, if I did think of that I might end up killing myself. So, I had to start thinking of plan B.

I decided to drive to Reno, Nevada. It wasn't that far from where we were in California and I was willing to do anything to pass the time. I just had one more decision to make. Should I call Rob?

It was his issue, his wife, and certainly his life. I had too much respect for him to leave him behind. I trusted him and his judgment of things. Besides he's the only one who can identify his wife.

I picked up my phone and dialed.

"Rob?" I asked.

"Yeah. What's up Kay?" He asked, concerned.

"Um… Could you come over please?" I hesitated.

"But we just left! What's going on?" He sounded worried now.

"Would it really bother you Rob? All you have to do is teleport here!" I teased.

"Fine!" Rob appeared in front of me saying this, annoyed.

I gasped.

"What? Surprised? Oh come on! You're the one who asked for it! So what's up?" He teased.

"Okay. Have a seat." I offered, serious now.

"Okay…" He said, suspicious.

"I contacted Joe." I said calmly.

"You managed to!" Rob half-shrieked it, surprised.

"Yes!" I smiled, smug.

"That's great! So, where is he?" Rob asked, excited.

"I don't know." I replied.

"You didn't ask him?" He asked, confused.

"No…"I started not sure how to explain but then I went on "He's still feeling very guilty about Regina and he said that he can't help us." I explained.

"That's so like Joe! Get over yourself already Joe! People need you here!" He said hitting the wall with his fist, angry.

"There's… something else." I started.

"What?" He looked at me, waiting.

"I… Regina… I tried to contact her… and… I did, but… I'm not sure." I hesitated all through my answer not sure what to tell him first.

"What?" He whispered. His face changed color and he leaned on the wall to support his weight. His knees were getting weaker, failing him. I felt his dizziness and I rushed to support him too.

I sat him on the couch and he looked at me and managed to choke out one word.

"How?" He whispered, only because his voice was failing him too.

"I found her, only she denied that she is Regina. She didn't know what 'contacting her' meant and she thought hearing thoughts is a mental disease. She had amnesia for a year and a half now and she says her name's Emily." I blurted out the whole thing. I thought he deserved to know it all instead of just shocking him every second.

There was silence for a few seconds. I remained quiet giving him his time to think. Finally he managed to talk.

"I need to see her." He finally said.

"Yeah, well, that's why I called you. She told me she's in Nevada. She's in Reno, Nevada Mental Hospital. I was going to drive there by myself but I thought I should let you know and see if you're going to come with me." I told him.

"Did you just say 'drive'?" He asked with a smile.

"Yeah, what's wrong?" I asked, confused.

"You asked for a teleport, and now you got one." He teased.

"Oh…" I considered it for a second and then I remembered "But you can't teleport anybody else with you! So you'll teleport and I'd still have to drive." I teased back.

"Wrong! You can borrow my power." He smiled as I considered his words.

"So teleport it is then." I smiled back.

He held my hand and I closed my eyes trying to get the sense of his power. Before I knew it we were standing in front of a building with a sign that reads "Reno, Nevada Mental Hospital." We looked at each other and took a deep breath and moved toward the gates.

Rob handled the talking part and the nurses too. I'd bet my life on it that if it was only me, they wouldn't even let me pass the gate since it was after their curfew but Rob used his charm and got the nurses to do him favors and let us in.

They showed us to her room and when we were almost there, Rob froze.

"I can't do this." He started hyperventilating.

"It's okay, Rob. Just breathe." I told him.

"I can't! You have to do this for me. Please Kay, please!" He pleaded.

"Okay, but how would I know for sure that it's her?" I asked.

"I'll listen from the outside and I'll definitely know her voice." He said.

"That's not enough Rob." I said patiently.

"Let me think…"He said.

"Could you think of something special about her, a mark or… something?" I asked.

"Yeah!" He shouted, excited. "She has a small scar in her left eyebrow. Like that brown lion from Lion King the cartoon movie, you know it? I used to tease her all the time about it…" He trailed off, deep in thought.

"It's okay, Rob." I put my arm on his shoulder. "I'll go check. Just stay here."

I knocked on the door softly and heard her say 'come in.' I opened the door carefully, taking one last look at Rob before I went in. She was sitting on her bed, reading. I walked a few steps toward her before she finally looked at me.

"It's you!" She said and I froze in my place.

"Me?" I asked, trying to play it cool.

"I dreamed of you!" She explained.

"Oh… okay. Can I talk to you about something?" I asked, politely.

"Sure!" She nodded. "Have a seat" She said pointing at the chair by her bed.

As I got closer to her, I started checking her face for the scar Rob told me about. For my surprise it was there; a cute little line across her left eyebrow, just like the cartoon.

"You're really nervous!" She commented.

"No, I'm not." I lied. I had no idea what I was going to tell her or how I was going to tell it.

"Bad liar. I feel it." She smiled.

"You can feel it? I thought you were only a telep…" I snapped my mouth shut before I finished my word. I was glad that I shut my mouth before commenting on her developing empathy besides her original telepath powers.

"A tele what?" She asked.

"Never mind. So, I have someone out there waiting to see you. He used to know you before you lost your memory." I said.

"You do? Bring him in then." She said with a smile.

I went to the door to get Rob and she started getting off the bed. When Rob entered she was halfway between the bed the door. She froze as soon as she saw him. It was like she really did freeze. She just stood without any movement staring at him. She kept staring at him and when he got closer to her, she just… collapsed.

I panicked and so did Rob. We called the nurses and carried her to the bed. The nurses asked us to wait outside while they tried to see what went wrong.

We waited 20 minutes but they felt like 20 years. And then the nurses came out.


	11. Chapter 11

Chapter eleven~ PLAN

"She's alright, but we think she's confused or something. She can't remember us or the hospital or anything. She just keeps asking about a guy. What was his name again?" The nurse told us and whispered the last question to the other nurse beside her.

"Rob." The other nurse replied.

I felt Rob stiffen beside me. "Can we see her?" I asked the nurse.

"I don't think you should, she's very confused." She replied.

"It's okay. This is Rob, the person she's asking for." I explained.

"Oh." She said, thinking.

"May be you should go inside and see her." The other nurse told us.

We headed to the room to see her. As soon as she saw Rob, she jumped off the bed and ran into his arms. He seemed confused at first by her sudden reaction but it took him only a second to hug her back and tight his arms around her.

"What happened Rob? Where are we?" She asked him.

He took a deep look at her and then he seemed to be thinking. Finally he asked her "What's the last thing you remember?"

"Umm… The Block took me and… Well, he tried to take the supposedly borrowed powers from me but since I didn't have them because he took me so far from you guys so he couldn't do anything… I remember him angry but that's it. I must have passed out or something. So what happened after that? Did he get back to you guys or left for good? And how did you find me?" She asked.

Rob looked at me and then looked back at her and then looked at me again. Dumbfounded as he was, it took him a minute to come up with an answer.

"It's been 18 months since what you're saying happened." He said quietly in a depressed tone. "He said he..." He paused having trouble finishing his sentence but then he went on. "Killed you. We thought you were dead…" He trailed off.

"What? Where was I all that time? Why didn't I come back?" She asked her questions quickly, not sure which one is the one she wants the answer to.

"We just found you. You've had amnesia for the past 18 months and apparently you called yourself Emily. But when you saw me, you passed out and here you are." Rob explained.

"Let's just go home." She said burying her face in his chest.

After all the paper work for checking Regina out of the hospital, we went home the same way we got here; teleport. Regina as a psychic can imitate Rob's powers as well.

It wasn't even midnight yet when me, Rob and Regina were in my apartment. We agreed that I should contact Joe again to tell him the updates and let him know that Regina is alive and Rob hasn't been mad at him forever.

I successfully contacted Joe who after a lot of persuasion agreed to come back and help us. He promised to take the first plane possible and that he'd be here by tomorrow.

Rob and Regina went home. They had some serious catching up to do and I was left alone to think of what I've been avoiding. What am I going to do about Chester? The main reason of not telling him was not to lose him as a friend but now I'm losing him and there's nothing else I can do about it. Even if I decided to tell him, I wasn't sure how to start a conversation like that.

I thought I'd better go check on Mike like I always do. Ever since I managed to control my power I decided that it was wrong for me to listen to people's thoughts or feelings. With the exception of Mike I managed successfully to avoid hearing any thoughts unless it was necessary. Mike's thoughts were intense, not all of them of course, but the ones strong enough to penetrate my control. The only thoughts strong enough to do that were the ones involving Aiko.

Mike was the only one I listen to his thoughts on purpose. Even though it was painful for me physically and emotionally, I still had to do it. I had to make sure that he's not thinking of hurting himself again or being consumed by guilt again. He didn't talk much, and although he needed help, he never asked, so I had to do it on my own.

I went to their apartment and I found Mike there, working on a painting of his. I was never good with judging art but I knew what Mike's drawings were like and this one was nothing like his usual work. It was too dark in color and in feeling. And he still had that depressed look in his eyes that hasn't changed for months and the same lost look when he speaks to someone like he's looking at something far away.

For some reason I was angry at him. He hasn't changed a bit; he didn't have the least gleam of hope when we knew that Aiko is alive. The only reason that stopped me from snapping at him was that I knew exactly how he's thinking. He couldn't see the hope in it because he's too busy worrying about everything else. How she is and what's happening to her.

I got closer to him to take a good look at the painting. I double checked his thoughts. I was relieved to know that he's not having any bright ideas for today. I decided to tell him the fast updates that happened in the past few hours. How we found Joe and then brought Regina back and also that we managed to convince Joe to come here and that he'd be here by tomorrow.

For the first time in a while I saw that gleam of hope I was looking for in his eyes. Things were moving forward now and we were that much closer to finally finding Aiko. I asked him to tell Chester the updates and left before Chester gets back.

When I see Mike like that and I see how he has been since we lost Aiko I can't help but think of how Aiko is doing without him or us. At least he has us, although we weren't helping and he wasn't even letting us. But Aiko is alone and every time I think of her I have this pain in my chest and can't help but think that her pain is even worse with that creep kidnapping her. All I wanted to do now is just get her back. Mike and Aiko weren't meant to be apart, they're dying without each other. The least I could do for my two best friends is do my damn best to get them back together.

The next day we all decided to gather in Chester and Mike's apartment mainly because they had bigger space. We were seven now and that was good for the sake of helping Aiko. We'll definitely outnumber that jackass. I decided to be a little late so I would arrive there when everybody is already there so I won't have to be alone with Chester. The idea of me and Chester being awkward really depressed me more than anything else. He used to be the one I'm most comfortable with but now… not anymore.

Finally when it was time, I headed to the apartment. When I walked in I scanned the faces in the room. Regina was the first face I saw sitting next to Rob holding hands. Then Mike and Phoenix were talking about something in the corner, they got a lot closer since the training week. Brad is talking to Joe and they seemed perfectly at ease, all of them. I was late enough to miss the introduction and the reconciling parts. Joe seemed fitting in perfectly like he was born here in that same apartment.

It seemed like I was the only one nervous there. I scanned the room one more time but there was no sign of Chester, apparently he had the same thought as I did about being late. How did it come to this? That was my only thought.

I said hello and went silently to the couch in front of Regina and Rob next to Brad and sat there lost in my thoughts, not paying much attention to all the conversations around me.

"Easy, Easy! Kay, please! Stop it! I'm still new to this empath power, I can't block you!" Regina said, getting louder toward the end of her sentence, pulling me out of my thoughts and drawing the attention of everyone to me.

"Huh! Sorry." I said. Ah crap! I'm not the only psychic anymore, my thoughts and feelings are no longer private. I went to the balcony after that to stay as far from her as possible. But then when I saw Chester coming I went back in to take my place so we could start discussing our plan.

I sat in the same place again, next to Brad, across the table from Regina. When Chester came in I felt my heart pounding and I took a deep breath but I couldn't look away from him, from his chocolate brown eyes staring back at me.

Regina gasped too as soon as he came in although she wasn't even looking at the door. Then she took a very deep breath.

"Wow! What was that all about?" She asked me but I was still looking at Chester.

"Huh?" I answered her, absentmindedly.

"That much!" She said to me looking at Chester and then back at me again.

"Jeez Regina! Keep it down" I told her in a low voice. I was starting to get annoyed with this situation. She puts everything she feels into words even if it's not her own feelings.

"What?" Chester asked Regina doubtfully. He waited for an answer as everybody else eagerly after the scene Regina started. I was already regretting saving her.

"She loves you! Way too much. Her sudden change of heart beat just took me off guard that's all." She explained.

"God Regina! Have you ever heard of a little thing called privacy?" I yelled getting louder stressing the last word. I was furious; I stormed out before anyone says anything.

"What did I do?" That was the last thing I heard Regina saying before I went out the door.

I didn't go back to my place knowing that someone would come after me eventually. I paced the stairs as fast as I could and walked away from the building hoping no one is following me.

I wondered aimlessly for a while and I found myself at the gates of Lincoln Park. It was empty just as usual and I was grateful. I lay on the grass staring at the blue sky above me –something we haven't seen here for a while. Mike's mood must be a little better. I was finally alone. I couldn't hold my tears any longer. I was so angry, so frustrated, so hurt. I was so mad Regina for letting everyone know everything private about me like this. Now, not only Chester knows, but everybody.

I wasn't even sure he liked me. I didn't even know why he had that thought of kissing. He may have just been messing around. And now what? Thanks to Regina everything went hundred times worse. And even if he liked me a little bit before as a friend now he'd hate me for this humiliation and things will never be the same for us. Not even close.

I lay there for a long time. I didn't want to go back. I couldn't face them again.

"I knew I'd find you here." A calm voice said to me. Even though I knew exactly who it was and even though it was familiar and calm, I almost had a heart attack. I wasn't expecting anybody to know where I was, even him.

"You know me too well." I said, sitting up to face him and fighting to keep my voice even and keep the conversation casual.

"Why did you leave?" Chester asked me, still calm with a smile on his face.

"Do you really need to ask?" I asked, sarcastic.

"You shouldn't have. Kay… Are we okay?" He asked.

"It depends." I replied, a little confused by his question.

"Why didn't you say anything before?" He asked, bewildered.

"About what?" I asked, even though I knew what he wanted to know. But I just didn't have an answer.

"Do you really need to ask?" He said, grinning.

"Not really." I replied. There was a second of silence. When I didn't say anymore, he spoke.

"I can tell you why." He grinned.

"Impress me!" I teased.

"Oh you'll be impressed that's for sure! Regina told me everything. I mean everything!" Chester said teasing too.

"What?" I screamed. "What did she tell you more than what she already said? What did she know? How does she even know?" I kept shooting questions, yelling.

"What? Relax!" Chester tried to comfort me.

"Just answer me!" I said.

"Well, your thoughts have been really intensified during the time you were around her and she heard everything and she told me everything, and I'm really glad she did." He said smiling.

"You are? Why? What exactly did she tell you?" I asked.

"She told me how much of a jerk I was yesterday. She told me how long you've been in love with me and I've stupid enough not to notice. I am so sorry about all this Kay, you have no idea." He pleaded.

"Oh my god! She doesn't know how to shut up, does she?" I said, furious.

"You know Kay you're my best friend. You're the only one I could tell anything to, and you're by far the best girl I've ever met, but… our relationship can never be the same anymore. Not after this." He said looking away.

"I know! That's why I didn't tell you! I never wanted things to change." I explained.

"It has changed already Kay. We have to accept the new situation." He said still looking away.

"I'm not sure I can Chester." I said, officially depressed. All thanks to Regina.

"We'll never be the same." He said looking back at me. "We can't be friends anymore." He continued.

I didn't answer. I was too busy holding back my tears.

He hugged me and whispered in my ears "Because we'll be so much more than that."

"Huh?" was all I could come up with. I was already hypnotized by the hug and the whisper.

"I love you. I love you so much Kay." He whispered again.

I tried to understand what he was saying, to process his words but I couldn't. I opened my mouth to say something but I forgot what it was as he got closer to me. I felt extremely dizzy and I couldn't see the background anymore, not the park, the trees, not even the sky. It took me long enough to understand why. He was kissing me. Frozen and breathless, he shook me to make sure I was alright.

"I'm sorry I was so stupid, I'm sorry I was so blind, I'm sorry I was such a jerk. I'm so very sorry Kay." He said, hugging me so tight.

I finally remembered the question I was about to say and managed to form it. "You love… me?" I whispered burying my face into his shoulder, hiding my stupid tears.

"More than you could ever imagine." He said hugging me tighter.

I hugged him tighter too, keeping my face buried in his clothes, smelling the powerful perfume he always wears. I felt his hands playing my hair as I realized we've been here for a while. I didn't want to say anything, if felt so nice here, so comfortable, I didn't want to do anything else in the whole world but be here with him.

"Shouldn't we go back?" I said unwillingly, but we really had to get back.

"Yeah probably." He said reluctantly.

I started to stand up and so did he and then I remembered something.

"How much do they know about this?" I said pointing to him and me.

"Regina must have told them everything by now. She's incapable of shutting up!" He said laughing.

"Oh my god!" I whispered to myself.

"Don't worry baby! I'm here now." He said putting his arm around my shoulder bringing me closer to him.

It was impossible for me not to feel my skin tickling or get dizzy or even lose my breath every time he touches me or says something like 'baby.' I was going to protest about something concerning someone, Regina I think, but I forgot.

As soon as we went through the door, all the eyes flickered toward us full of anticipation. It was very obvious that they know everything and there was no point in hiding or lying.

"So?" Mike asked us with the hint of a smile on his face.

"Everything is okay. They're officially together now." Regina said before Chester could answer Mike.

"Oh come on! Regina!" I shouted, keeping my smile.

"What? I'm just saying!" She justified.

I looked away from her focusing on what's important.

"Rob? How are we doing this?" I asked, serious now.

"You're going to imitate Joe's Power of 'phasing through objects' while you're contacting Aiko so that you could go right through the barrier he's making around her." He explained.

"Tell her we're coming… Tell her I can't live without her." Mike was looking at me, his mouth shut; his mind is speaking louder than words.

I nodded and turned to Joe.

"Are you ready?" I asked.

"Yeah, are you?" He replied.

"Yeah. Let's do this." I finally said.

I took one last look at Mike whose eyes full of anticipation and then I looked at Chester who seemed worried but kept his smile and then I closed my eyes and focused on Aiko.

I was not sure what to expect. All I knew was that I really wanted to see her, I wanted her to be okay, and I wanted her to be with us. I missed her so much.

After 2 seconds without being thrown across the room, I started to trust Joe's power but…


	12. Chapter 12

Chapter twelve~ STRATEGY

Nothing happened. I was standing there in the darkness all by myself. I called her name but no one answered. I waited but no shape appeared, no figure cleared. I tried to go back to reality but I couldn't do that either. I tried again and again but I couldn't. I was stuck, not with Aiko and not outside in the real world; all by myself in the dark.

Finally, I was able to open my eye, get back to reality. I was grateful. But something was off. I opened my eyes and I wasn't where I was sitting when I closed them. I wasn't in Chester and Mike's living room and I wasn't sitting at all. I was lying on my back on a bed. The room looked almost orange with the sunset light coming from the window. The room looked too familiar but I was too messed up to recognize it.

I tried to set up but someone pinned me down. Someone was sitting beside me on that bed. I was still adjusting. I was confused and it took me a while to figure out what was going on.

"It's about time you woke up!" Chester said, chuckling.

I looked at him; he was leaning on the bed beside me, his face above mine, his chocolate brown eyes glowing in the orange light in the room, fixed on mine. I didn't say anything, I just looked at him.

"What? Are you okay?" He asked, suddenly worried.

For some reason I was unable to produce words. I didn't know if it's because I'm confused with what's going on or because of my usual attitude when I look at him and just know how perfect he is and how lucky I am. I nodded. That much I managed to do.

"Man, you got us all scared to death back there. You've been taking over my room for quite sometime now." Chester said, smiling.

Suddenly I remembered. It was afternoon and I was trying to contact Aiko and something happened or… didn't happen. Now I'm in his room, I must have blacked out or something. Things started to get clearer and I could find my voice again. I even managed to remember the time and tease about it.

"I don't think I've been 'taking over' your room for that long Chester! It's only sunset. What? You can't spare your room for a couple of hours?" I teased.

"You really are confused, aren't you? It's Friday, Kay." He said, confused as well.

Friday? What's that supposed to mean? I wasn't sure what he meant and I lost my voice again. I grimaced and he continued.

"You've been 'taking over' my room for…" He paused to look at his watch and then continued "20 hours. Nothing like a solid 20 hours of sleep to start your day, right?" He teased.

"20 hours?" I said my voice too low but that was the loudest I could manage.

"yeah. You were trying to contact Aiko yesterday and everything was fine till you collapsed and we couldn't wake until now." He said it like it hurt him somehow.

"Yesterday? Oh my god! Why didn't it work? What happened? We have to try again… Now!" I said, trying to jump off the bed. I failed of course, I was too disoriented. He jumped to support me.

"Easy Kay. Do we really have to do it right now? Who knows what could happen?" He protested.

"Yeah. we have to! Chester, it's Aiko." I replied.

"What if you slipped into a coma this time? I really don't want to lose you Kay." He said and I wasn't sure if the last part of his sentence was too low as much of a whisper or if he didn't say it at all and I heard it echoing in his thoughts. Either way, I answered it.

"You won't! You won't lose me Chester. I'll be back, I have to. I also have to help Aiko and you know that I can never turn my back on her." I said.

""You're talking like I don't know Aiko or care if she's okay!" He snapped. "I'd love Aiko to be back more than anything in the world. All I'm saying is that we have to think about it and be rational, use logic." He explained.

"There's nothing rational or logical about any of this Chester." I said frustrated and he didn't argue. He too knew I was right.

"Okay, just relax. I'll go call the guys to come here." He offered.

"Why? Where are they? Why did they leave?" I asked, confused.

"It's been 20 hours Kay. People… normal people need to sleep. Besides, I promised I'd call them if anything came up." He smiled at me and left the room to go call them.

He got back fast. He sat on the bed beside me and started telling me the parts I missed when I was out. Apparently Regina's powers aren't so strong. They asked her to try contacting Aiko instead may be that would help wake me somehow and showed her a photo of Aiko but it turned out she can't contact anybody. She can imitate only one power, Rob's; which is teleportation. Too bad though, I wished she'd lose her telepathic abilities instead.

In only a few minutes and before Chester could continue telling me what happened, Rob and Regina showed up. Of course they were the first to come; after all they're the ones with the teleportation abilities. Then Phoenix and Brad arrived shortly after. For a person who hates flying Brad let Phoenix carry him around a lot. We waited for a while till every body arrived and debates started and everyone seemed to have an opinion on what happened and none of them made sense to me.

I didn't want to waste anymore time than the time that's been already wasted. I grabbed Joe's hand abruptly and told him to be quiet when he protested my sudden moves. I only had one last thing to say before I start this again.

"If something happened… If I slipped into a coma" I looked at Chester and went on " It's nobody's fault. Whatever happens to me is my own decision and my own responsibility. Nobody has to carry that burden." I took my eyes unwillingly off of Chester and looked at Mike while saying the last part "No one has to feel guilty."

I started focusing again. I was using Joe's powers more efficiently and getting used to them more. I put all my energy, my focus and my 20 hours of sleep into this. It had to work. It had to.

And so it did.

I didn't wait long in the darkness. A figure started to shape a head of me. Darkness started to clear a little bit at the time. And I finally managed to see who that person was. It was Aiko. Finally.

She was confused at first and stared at me. I couldn't blame her. I couldn't believe it either. I stood frozen in my place just looking at her. After 7 months of thinking she's dead, here she is, perfect and more alive than any of us. I kept blinking and then I gathered enough strength to call her name.

"Aiko?" I said tentatively.

"Is that really you Kay?" She eyed me suspiciously.

"Yeah Aiko it is really me, stupid old Claire." I said, grinning.

"Oh my god, Kay! It is really you!" She jumped up and headed my way.

We hugged wordlessly for a long moment. I was ecstatic. To see Aiko again, alive, to have my friend back, that was all I asked for in the world.

"How did you do this, Kay?" She asked, surprised.

"Long story, I really missed you man!" I replied.

"Oh my god Kay you have no idea what's happening here. I miss you guys so much. All of you." She paused and her face turned to a darker mood when she spoke again "Kay… Be honest, tell me… How's Michael?"

"He's…"I trailed off not sure how to finish that sentence. If I said he's okay then I'd be lying and if I said he's not then she'll be worried about him even more and she can do nothing about it.

"What? Is he okay? Oh my god! What happened…" She said and I interrupted.

"He's okay… physically at least." That part was true at least. "But he's so lost without you honey. He's not the same person he used to be. He's someone different, someone depressed, someone… suicidal." I knew it was a bad idea to say that last word as soon as I said it and I was right.

"Suicidal?" She screamed it.

"He's not dead. He didn't do it. But it's been really tough on him without you. It's been really tough for all of us. We thought you were dead, can you imagine? We were too busy feeling sorry for ourselves and you here need our help." I said the tone of disgust obvious in my tone.

"You know in a way… I'm glad I here know that you guys are alive instead of being there and knowing that you're dead." She said, whispering.

"What? You knew we're alive? How much about this do you know exactly? You don't seem so shocked by the fact that I'm actually contacting you." I asked.

"I'm being held captive by the guy who was following us with the rifle, remember him?" She asked.

"Yeah, I know. But continue." I replied.

"Well, after the meteor, I landed in some sort of a forest and he found me. He took me back to his place. At first he said that I'll only stay till I feel better but then when I asked to leave he locked me inside a room and only slips me food. He discovered his powers too early and he's practicing to get the rest of our powers ever since. He knows this guy who told him all about it in the very next day to the meteor. Unlike you guys, it took you 7 months to even notice your powers." She explained.

"How do you know so much about us?" I asked.

"He's been sending that friend of his to watch you. I heard all his conversations. I knew everything about you and about my powers and his powers too. His friend seems so into this stuff." She said.

"I know he has been blocking you but why didn't he contact me? He's going to need all of us around to take these powers." I asked, confused.

"He's been waiting till he gets perfect at controlling his powers and he has a plan for it. I think he doesn't think it's time yet but I think he's getting too strong for you." She said.

"Don't worry. There are 9 of us including you and he's only one." I paused for a second considering and then I asked "Does that friend of his do something… I mean does he have any powers?"

"Yes." She said grimly. "He can multiply and reflect."

"Huh?" I had no idea what she's talking about.

"He can… make a lot of versions of himself. And he can reflect some powers that are used on him. Like mine." She seemed remembering something.

"What?" I asked.

"You don't think I have never tried to break out of here, do you?" She smiled.

"Really? Tell me, what happened?" I was curious.

"Well, let's just say I burned down his house and now he's living in a trailer. Only that's affecting me too since now I've to be kidnapped in a trailer instead of a room." She said, smug.

"What's your power exactly Aiko?" I asked.

"I'm an arsonist." She said, winking.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked.

"It means that I can produce and manipulate fire strong enough to burn the planet." She said, grinning.

"Wow! Why couldn't you break out then?" I asked.

"Because he can block my powers from himself. His house burned but he's still alive. And also because his friend reflected my powers on me. That's how I got this." She said revealing her arm and showing me a healed mark of burning on it.

"Oh my god!" I said tracing the burning mark, horrified. "I'm so sorry about this Aiko. We should have known better than to let you like this for all that long."

"You couldn't have known. I know that. But now that you know, get your ass here and get me the hell out of here." She said grinning and nudging my arm.

"Do you know where you are?" I asked.

"Yeah. He put the trailer in the place where the meteor landed. But he has some sort of protection field around and I don't think you will be able to get closer. Just be careful okay?" She pleaded.

"Don't worry. Just hang in there. We're coming. Mike told me to tell you that we're coming and that… He's not able to live without you." I delivered the message.

"He did!" She paused for a second. "Neither do I. The only thing that's making me strong enough to face this is knowing his news from that freak and knowing that he's alive and well."

"He's not as well as you'd think. Hey do you know what he can do?" I asked teasing.

"A guy is watching you! What part of that don't you understand?" She said laughing. "I know everything! I know about Rob and what happened with his wife, I know about Joe, Brad, and Phoenix and all about your powers. I even know the latest updates with you and Chester." She said winking.

"The guy watching us knows all that! Man, that's creepy! Who is he?" I asked, horrified by that fact.

"They're kind of retarded." She said smiling. "They're not that smart and they call each others names from comics or something. They call each other 'block' and 'reflector' how dumb is that! I don't think you have to worry that much about him knowing that you're coming. He already knows!" She said, her tone darkening toward the end of the sentence.

"He already knows! How?" I asked.

"He couldn't block you because of Joe but he can feel that his defenses have been breached. He knows that you contacted me." She told me.

"We have to act fast now! I'll go back okay? We're coming back Aiko… Hang in there we're coming for you." I said, starting to end the contact.

"Bye Kay" She waved to me.

The contact ended. I opened my eyes in the same position and place as I closed them. I knew time doesn't really pass in the real world when I contact someone so to them I just closed my eyes for 2 or may be 3 seconds. Their suspicious eyes met mine and Mike was the first one to break the silence.

"So?" Mike asked.

"Did it work?" Chester asked.

"Yes. But we have to act fast. We have to go now!" I said, the urgency obvious in my voice.

I summed up the whole story for them. And they too realized that we had to go now. Before we got carried away with it, Chester stopped us. His voice compelling and urgent, he started putting the outlines for a strategy and making the plan.

"No teleporting or flying or anything. We'll go by car. We have to stick together. Ready? Let's go." That was Chester's final orders before we got in the car and drove off to meet 'block' and 'reflector.' Boy that's really dumb, that was my thought as I remembered Aiko's words.


	13. Chapter 13

Chapter thirteen~ FINAL OPTION

Chester and I were in the same car with Mike and Rob. Apparently Regina had a lot catching up to do with Joe and the other guys, so she rode with them. We started talking again about what we're going to do when we get there. Rob seemed bothered by something, like he's keeping something from us or hesitating to say something. I decided to listen to his thoughts, may be it's something important. I didn't want any surprises.

"Kay! Kay! Come on! You listen to everybody all the time! Nod if you hear me!" That was what I heard Rob thinking. Apparently there was something he wanted to share just with me but I wasn't paying much attention to notice earlier. I nodded.

"Finally! Thank god!" He thought. I turned to look at him, he was in the backseat with Mike and Chester was driving.

"Don't look! They'll notice! Just listen. There's something that I didn't want to share with all of them because I know they won't agree, but you have to know this. There's something you can do that could end the battle in a heartbeat, but… you may never survive it." He thought, and I swallowed.

"You don't have to freak out and you don't have to do it but you have to know your options just in case things get worse. You can contact the block with Joe's help." I didn't see the danger in that, but I thought there was more.

"Usually contacting a block is very dangerous because they won't let you contact them and it backfires. You shouldn't have contacted Joe, it was reckless, and the only thing that helped you is that he's not entirely a block. Anyway, so if a block couldn't stop you because you managed to get through his defenses you might get stuck there and never get out. You'll be officially brain dead and so will he. You'll live in your mind unable to move or feel the real world and that's what will happen to him too and that would mean that we'll be able to take him out. I wouldn't be telling you this Kay unless I believed that you're strong enough to do it. And that's not even a plan B or C, that's a final option if everything went wrong. I just thought you should know." I nodded and stopped listening to his thoughts, and started listening to mine.

I was glad he told me. I was willing to do anything to end this threat. If the block managed to get me then we'll all die so I might as well die alone and let them live if it's all the same to me. I was grateful that he didn't say anything out loud. That was an option that concerned me and only me. I knew Chester and Mike would protest but that was a decision I had to make for all of us.

I stared out the window, watching the signs of the city fading away and being replaced by abandoned desert. The spot where the meteor landed is deserted which is good. Our use of powers was weird enough, the last thing we needed is audience for it. As we approached, we saw a huge mushroom cloud made of smoke. My heart stopped at the sight of it, and then it began pounding harder than ever. The odds of this cloud as something positive were not in our favor. Whatever is waiting for us there is not something we expected.

As we started to get closer, I started hearing something. Not the thoughts of the people around me, but it were definitely someone's thoughts. I strained my eyes toward the mushroom cloud to see someone, something… anything. I saw three figures of people. They were too far to tell who they were but it took me a second to understand what was exactly going on and I started panicking.

For some reason I started saying the thoughts I had out loud, incoherently as I had them, through my panting breath.

"Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! He knows! He's going to hit her! Oh my god! Her hair! He's grabbing her hair! Oh my god! Oh my god! Oh my god! He's interrogating her! Oh god! Oh…" I was panicking and no one around me had the slightest idea of what I was blabbing about. Chester put his hand on my mouth to silence me, to make me listen.

"Shhh, breathe, just breathe. What's going on?" Chester said in calmly and it worked.

I took a deep breath and started to explain. "It's Aiko. He knows I contacted her. He's…" I didn't finish, I was interrupted… by Mike.

"Son of a Bi…" Mike yelled and something kept me from hearing the rest of his sentence. Even though I knew the word Mike was aiming for, I couldn't hear it. It was interrupted by an explosion sound, or that's what I thought at first. In a second I realized, it was thunder. The deafening sound of it made me shudder. But that was not all that happened simultaneously with his words. Lightening bolts shimmered in the sky and two of them aimed for the 3 figures hitting only two of them and throwing them a few meters away on each side.

I looked around to look at Mike but he wasn't around me. He was halfway to the mushroom cloud. He must have started running before I even finished my words.

It was all going too fast. The first thought I had was to teleport there. Rob, Regina and I were the first to reach Aiko. She was on the ground but conscious. I approached her and helped her to stand up. She was okay. Lightening was in time, it hit them before they fully fulfilled all the thoughts they had about it.

"I'm so sorry." I said hugging her. That hug was different; it was real not only in my head. I felt her stiffen in my arms, I pulled away to see why and I knew.

She saw Mike getting closer, running and panting. I let go on her instantly and let her free. As soon as I did that, she slipped away toward him as he finally reached us. They stood facing each other for a second not saying or doing anything. It was a little weird but I think that each of them was making sure the other is real. It was too much for them to finally see each other again, and I didn't even need my psychic abilities to know that.

It was no longer than one second and then Mike suddenly swapped her off her feet. He hugged her but she wasn't touching the ground. He carried her and they were spinning again and again. It was a private moment for them and even though their thoughts were too loud, I did my best to stay out of their heads but not their emotions.

I couldn't block both their thoughts and emotions at the same time; they were too much for me. I felt dizzy and I sat on the ground with my head in my hands trying to get out of their private moment.

"Are you okay?" Chester asked, concerned, putting his hand on my shoulder. I looked up and I could have sworn there was a rainbow in the sky, even though there was no rain, just thunder and lightening. It was weird how the weather gets affected so fast by Mike's emotions.

"I'm fine. It's just… those two love birds there are making me dizzy." I told Chester pointing at Mike and Aiko kissing.

"We have to get out of here now!" Joe said.

"You're right. I'm not sure if the lightening was enough." Rob assented.

"Are you guys kidding? They must have been deep fried by now; it was lightening for crying out loud!" I protested.

"May be if they were normal people, but we can't take any chances." Joe replied.

"Rob and Regina, go get the cars!" Chester ordered.

"Wow wow wow! Where do you think you're going?" A voice came from a distance behind us.

I turned around to see who's protesting again and I found the two men that were hit by lightening standing there… alive and well.

Before I could process what was going on, they weren't two any more. They must have turned seven or eight in the second I blinked. Only they all looked alike except for one, the one who was talking.

"Not so soon buddy!" He said to Chester as he started to raise his hand to throw them away.

Chester did it anyway but it didn't affect him. The other versions of the other guy spread in front of us; each version of him stood facing one of us, except for me. The block was the one to stand facing me.

Chester waved his hand again to throw the version in front of him away but he reflected it and Chester was thrown away. Aiko shot fire at him but he reflected it, only Mike's wind didn't allow the reflected fire to touch her.

I was standing there dumbfounded not doing anything when my head starting to sink in excruciating pain.

"Nice gathering! I'm glad you all came together. It's easier for me that way." The block facing me smiled and reached his hands and put them on the sides of my head.

It was too much pain. I couldn't handle it. I couldn't remove his hands even though it hurt so much more. All I could do is scream and scream and scream.

I wasn't strong enough to stop him. The pain got stronger by the second and there was nothing I could do. In a moment of clarity through the pain I remembered. This is it! I thought. As my friends started falling to the ground one by one I knew this was the time for my final option. I stretched on hand across to Joe and with all the powers left in me I contacted the block.

Suddenly the pain stopped. But I wasn't in the desert in front of the block anymore; I was in that dark familiar place that I always end up in when I contact someone.

I fell to my knees with the sudden feeling of relief after that pain. Another figure started clearing in the darkness and I wasn't surprised. As the block finally appeared, he freaked out.

"What did you do? What happened? Where are we?" He shot one question after the other, shouting.

"Relax… We have all the time in the world to answer those questions. It's just you and me now 'buddy'!"


	14. Chapter 14

Chapter fourteen~ BACK AGAIN

He stared at me for a few minutes with wide open eyes not believing what was going on.

"What's happening exactly?" He finally asked.

"To be honest, I'm not entirely sure. But there's one thing I know, you and I are trapped here. We are officially brain dead to the rest of the world." I thought I'd be honest with him especially that we're going to be together for a long time.

His face changed and he sprang to hit me, luckily it was my head he was in so I had the upper hand and I was able to do whatever I wanted and set the scenes however I liked.

As he started to attack I froze time and went behind him so he landed on nothing and still looking confused.

"You're in my head; it's my rules, my world. I have leverage and you have… oh let's think… Nothing! You have nothing!" I said, smug.

He sat there silently considering my words and then he started screaming in pain. It started only a second and he disappeared. I wasn't sure what that meant. I didn't know if he managed to get back to the real world somehow or what? I was running out of options as I didn't know much about this.

Where I was, time seemed to be different. I didn't feel it pass, I wasn't sure how much time was slipping away from me and I wasn't bothered but it didn't seem like much time.

After a while, a long while, another shape of a person started to clear a head of me. As it started to clear, I realized that it's not anybody I know. It was a woman, a very old woman, her face serene and comforting. She had Asian features and it made her face even more relaxing. She came toward me, studying my face intently for a long moment and then she started to speak.

"How are you honey? Are you okay?" She said brushing her creased soft hand on my cheek.

"Who are you?" I asked, bewildered.

"It's a really long story." She said.

"Well, I've got nothing but time. So why are you here?" I asked.

"I'm here to get you out." She said in a calm voice.

"Really? But how? Is that even possible? Am I dying? And who are you?" I shot the question fast and loose, still confused.

"Relax honey, I'll tell you everything. I'm Joe's grandmother." She started, and I thought how that explained her Asian features.

"Really? Are they okay?" I asked.

"Joe is okay and I don't know about the others, there was only one guy with him when he came to look for me but I don't remember his name." She replied.

"Oh…" I thought about it for a second and then I asked a different question than the one I had in mind. "Why did he look for you?"

"Because they wanted me to help you, to get you back." She replied.

"And you can do that?" I asked, eager.

"Yes honey, that's why I am here." She justified.

"Okay then, let's go back now!" I talked fast. I was dying to get back and see them and know what happened even though it's been only an hour or so.

"Okay. Let's get you back then. You don't have to do anything. My power is strong enough to take us both and I have a lot of experience with this, one of the advantages of old age." She smiled at me and put her hands on my shoulders and closed her eyes, and I did the same.

"Kay! Kay come on! Wake up! Kay!" I heard Chester's voice calling my name but I wasn't able to open my eyes for a few seconds at first, but then I finally did.

When I opened my eyes I realized I was lying on my back and saw Chester's face right above mine but before I had time to realize anything else I was being pulled up hard for a hug.

I took my time processing things. Chester was hugging me tightly and I finally felt safe…home again in his arms. I was in his room, on his bed. It seemed like it'd be the usual for me to take over his room whenever I black out. Chester's room was full of people, familiar faces, and they're all staring at us. I looked around and I saw Joe standing beside his grandmother. Rob and Regina were there standing beside Brad. Phoenix was on Mike's left side and on his right side there was… Aiko.

And that's when it hit me. I remembered everything at one shot so intense it made my vision blurry for a second. My question has been answered, and they're all okay. But what happened? It's been an hour or may be two, have they managed to get me home already. I wanted to pull back from Chester's hug to ask but I was too comfortable there. It felt warm and safe, compared to my two cold hours in the dark. It was strange how I missed him when it hasn't been that long since I last saw him but as I said, time is really weird when I'm contacting someone, I never really understand it.

"What happened?" I whispered in Chester's ear, not letting go of him.

"Shhh. Don't worry about it. It's all taken care of. The important thing is that you're here now." He said tapping my back.

"No really! How did you guys defeat him and get back here so fast?" I asked, curious.

He dropped his arms and pushed me away but steadying me so I won't fall back to bed; I was still a little dizzy. He looked into my eyes for a long moment and then he looked confused.

"So fast?" He asked. And I didn't answer. I didn't even understand what his question was about.

"Do you know how long you've been out?" He changed his question.

"I'm not sure. An hour? May be two?" I admitted. And the room exploded with loud laughter including Chester. There were too many people in his room, and the laughter was louder than usual, may be because I was feeling a little hang over.

"Am I missing something here?" I asked, irritated.

"You're missing a lot, Kay!" Aiko smiled at me.

"It's been almost 3 days." Mike told me laughing.

"To be exact 70 hours." Chester said, checking his watch.

"But…" Dazed as I was, I started to object but I was too shocked to make an argument about anything.

"Just chill, as I said before what's important is that you're back!" Chester said, grinning.

"Let's get you something to eat." Aiko said, heading out of the room, probably to the kitchen.

"Yeah, you haven't eaten anything for 3 days now. And you're looking too pale. Let's go." He ordered, all the people in the room started to move out.

When everyone got out, he waved his hand and closed door from his place on the bed by my side. I'd never stop being impressed by how graceful he is when he uses his powers. When he looked back at me, his eyes were glittering. It took me a second to realize that he had tears in his eyes. He got closer to me and whispered through his suffocated voice.

"Why did you do it?" He whispered, looking disappointed in me.

"I had to Chester. It was the only way." I justified.

"You didn't have to." He whispered, looking away.

"Yes I did. You were going to die!" I admitted.

"And what about you?" He looked back at me, his voice louder.

"Look at the odds Chester! It's better for one person to die so the others can live instead of if we all died." I said defensively.

"I would have preferred the second option." He looked away again, not meeting my eyes.

"Oh come on! One loss won't matter when 8 people survive." I tried to explain.

"It matters to me!" He yelled. "I would have gladly died with you back there, it's a hundred times better than to live knowing that you died because of me."

"It wasn't because of just you Chester! It was for all of us." I tried to comfort him.

"Do you have any idea what I went through in the past 3 days? I was scared to death, Kay! I was petrified! The idea of losing you gave me nightmares… I haven't slept since you slipped into that coma! I had back to back flights, and I had to go to a foreign country and look for someone I've never seen in my life and most of all I had to endure the idea of you being here, motionless, brain dead…" He trailed off.

"Wow, stop it right there! You had a flight? You went to a foreign country? What exactly did I miss in those 3 days?" I asked, avoiding the main point.

"That's not even the point Kay! You should have thought of me!" He said angrily.

"I was thinking of you! Why do you think I did it in the first place?" I admitted.

"What?" He said, confused.

"The sight of you being thrown away by your own powers like this… I just couldn't take it. I couldn't have let you die like that knowing that there was something I could have done to prevent it." I burst into tears, remembering how the other guy hit him hard and threw him away.

"I'm sorry Kay." He said pulling me closer to his chest. "It's just… it's been too hard on me. I guess I'm not tough enough." He smiled. "But I just can't lose you." He tightened his arms around me.

"I am the one who should be apologizing here… for scaring you like this!" I grinned. "You still didn't tell me what happened." I reminded him.

He adjusted his position and leaned on the pillow and put my head on his chest and started to tell me what I missed.

"Okay… Let me set the scene for you." He started, smiling.

"Amaze me" I teased.

"Ohhh you'll be amazed that's for sure." He laughed, and went on. "So the last thing you probably remember is me being thrown away and Mike putting himself between Aiko and the backfire, right?" He asked.

I only nodded and felt a shiver down my spine at the memory.

"When you did what you did you both fell to the ground, him and… you." He paused for a second and then continued. "After he passed out, the pain we felt stopped and we all managed to stand up again to face the other one. He was shocked that his friend collapsed like this and he shrank back to only one version, the original one. We noticed that he's absolutely powerless. He couldn't attack us unless we attack him first, so we didn't attack him or use our powers at all; we just kicked his ass the usual way. We beat the crap out of him and he ran off." He laughed.

"That's brilliant of you guys! And then what happened?" I asked, curious.

Chester didn't answer me; he looked away for a few seconds, thinking.

"Let's just skip that part. So, after we found out that you're in a coma or whatever that was, Joe suggested we call his grandmother and ask her. He said she was one of the original people who absorbed the powers from meteors and she's very powerful and experienced and in full control of her powers. The only problem was that she lived in South Korea. We took the first flight there and tracked her down, and asked her to come back to help. She agreed gladly and came back with us." He explained.

"What about the part that you skipped?" I asked.

"Never mind. You're okay now and that's what matters. Let's go eat." He headed for the door and then turned back to me. "And don't you dare read my mind!" He said and then laughed.

"I can't, even if I wanted to. I'm exhausted!" I said and followed him out.

He went to set with Mike and Brad and the other guys and I went to Aiko and Regina in the kitchen.

"Hey." I said to them.

"Hey, how are you feeling now?" She said, smiling.

"I feel so weak, but I think I'm okay." I assured her.

"I'm so glad you're back." She grinned.

"No, I am so glad you are back." I smiled at her.

"Here… Eat this. You'll feel better." She handed me a sandwich.

"Thanks man, I missed your sandwiches really." I grinned.

"Knock yourself out then, I've made loads." She smiled.

"Hey do you know what happened after the guy you beat up ran off?" I asked.

"He didn't tell you?" She asked, but she didn't seem surprised.

"He's being secretive about it and I'm too weak to read his mind." I admitted.

"Even if I tell you now, you'll have to see it for yourself in his head when you're strong enough." She said.

"What is it? What happened back there?" I asked, irritated.

"Chester killed the other guy, the block." She said in a whisper. When she said that, everything clicked. That would explain why the guy disappeared suddenly.

"How?" I asked, my eyes wide open with shock.

"Remember the trailer I set on fire before you guys came? The one causing the mushroom cloud?" She asked.

"Yeah, how can I ever forget that?" I teased.

"Well, when Chester saw you on the ground at first he thought you were just passed out and he got angry and he beat up the guy with Mike and the others. But when Rob told us what happened and that you might not wake up again… Well, let's just say Chester generated enough power to left the burning trailer and land it on the guy, but he didn't mean it and you were close to the guy so he moved you so fast from under it before it finally hit." She explained.

"But why didn't he tell me?" I asked, confused.

"The way he sees it, he put you in danger twice, one when you had to do what you did to save us and the other when he was this close to killing you by the flying trailer. Besides, he's not that proud of killing another human either. It's tough on him." She justified.

"Wow, He really can't see the glass half full, can he?" I smiled.

"I don't think he has it in him." She laughed.

Aiko finished the sandwiches and I went with her and Regina to the living room to give them to the guys. The way Mike watched Aiko was funny. He never takes his eyes off of her; I think he might be a little freaked out that she might disappear again. She went and sat in his lap and they started kissing when Phoenix, Brad, and Joe started booing and asking them to stop the public display of affection. I couldn't blame them; they had every right to be like that after all that's happened. I went to set beside Chester, giving him a peck on his forehead before I sat down. I leaned my head on his chest, still a little weak and he put his arms around me. Regina also sat beside Rob feeding him the sandwiches and they also got their share of booing of Brad, Phoenix and Joe. I think they were a little bitter because they didn't have girls. I asked about Joe's grandmother and they told me that Joe dropped her to the airport; her flight must have taken off by now.

We started talking and laughing and everything was just as it supposed to be. Before we knew it, we started thinking about our new plans for the future because now after everything changed our lives would never be the same.


End file.
